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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8823-8.txt b/8823-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..227ceae --- /dev/null +++ b/8823-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6918 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dutch Life in Town and Country, by P. M. Hough + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Dutch Life in Town and Country + +Author: P. M. Hough + +Posting Date: February 19, 2015 [EBook #8823] +Release Date: September, 2005 +First Posted: August 13, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: The Delft Gate at Rotterdam.] + + + +Dutch Life in Town and Country + +By + +P. M. Hough, B.A. + +With Thirty-Two Illustrations + + + + +Contents + + + + I. National Characteristics + II. Court and Society + III. The Professional Classes + IV. The Position of Women + V. The Workman of the Towns + VI. The Canals and Their Population + VII. A Dutch Village + VIII. The Peasant at Home + IX. Rural Customs + X. Kermis and St. Nicholas + XI. National Amusements + XII. Music and the Theatre + XIII. Schools and School Life + XIV. The Universities + XV. Art and Letters + XVI. The Dutch as Readers + XVII. Political Life and Thought +XVIII. The Administration of Justice + XIX. Religious Life and Thought + XX. The Army and Navy + XXI. Holland Over Sea + +Index + + + + +List of Illustrations + + + +The Delft Gate at Rotterdam +Types of Zeeland Women +Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type +A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type +Dutch Fisher Girls +A Bridal Pair Driving Home +A Dutch Street Scene +A Sea-Going Canal +A Village in Dyke-Land +A Canal in Dordrecht +An Overyssel Farmhouse +An Overyssel Farmhouse +Approach to an Overyssel Farm +Zeeland Costume +Zeeland Costumes +An Itinerant Linen-Weaver +Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Linen-Press +Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse +A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable +Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor +Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs +Rommel Pot +A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume +Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur +An Overyssel Peasant Woman +Zeeland Children in State +Kermis 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' +St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th +Skating to Church +Parliament House at the Hague--View From the Great Lake +Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers Worshipped + Before Leaving for New England) +Utrect Cathedral + + + + + +Dutch Life in Town and Country + + + + +Chapter I + +National Characteristics + + + +There is in human affairs a reason for everything we see, although not +always reason in everything. It is the part of the historian to seek in +the archives of a nation the reasons for the facts of common experience +and observation, it is the part of the philosopher to moralize upon +antecedent causes and present results. Neither of these positions is taken +up by the author of this little book. He merely, as a rule, gives the +picture of Dutch life now to be seen in the Netherlands, and in all things +tries to be scrupulously fair to a people renowned for their kindness and +courtesy to the stranger in their midst. + +And this strikes one first about Holland--that everything, except the old +Parish Churches, the Town Halls, the dykes and the trees, is in +miniature. The cities are not populous, the houses are not large, the +canals are not wide, and one can go from the most northern point in the +country to the most southern, or from the extreme east to the extreme +west, in a single day, and, if it be a summer's day, in _day-light_, +while from the top of the tower of the Cathedral at Utrecht one can look +over a large part of the land. + +[Illustration: Types of Zeeland Women.] + +As it is with the natural so it is with the political horizon. This latter +embraces for the average Dutchman the people of a country whose interests +seem to him bound up for the most part in the twelve thousand square miles +of lowland pressed into a corner of Europe; for, extensive as the Dutch +colonies are, they are not 'taken in' by the average Dutchman as are the +colonies of some other nations. There are one or two towns, such as The +Hague and Arnhem, where an Indo-Dutch Society may be found, consisting of +retired colonial civil servants, who very often have married Indian women, +and have either returned home to live on well-earned pensions or who +prefer to spend the money gained in India in the country which gave them +birth. But Holland has not yet begun to develop as far as she might the +great resources of Netherlands India, and therefore no very great amount +of interest is taken in the colonial possessions outside merely home, +official, or Indo Dutch society. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type.] + +With regard to the affairs of his country generally, the state of mind of +the average Dutchman has been well described as that of a man well on in +years, who has amassed a fair fortune, and now takes things easily, and +loves to talk over the somewhat wild doings of his youth. Nothing is more +common than to hear the remarks from both old and young, 'We _have_ been +great,' 'We have _had_ our time,' 'Every nation reaches a climax;' and +certainly Holland has been very great in statesmen, patriots, theologians, +artists, explorers, colonizers, soldiers, sailors, and martyrs. The names +of William the Silent, Barneveldt, Arminius, Rembrandt, Rubens, Hobbema, +Grotius, De Ruyter, Erasmus, Ruysdael, Daendels, Van Speijk, Tromp afford +proof of the pertinacity, courage, and devotion of Netherland's sons in +the great movements which have sprung from her soil. + +To have successfully resisted the might of a Philip of Spain and the +strategy and cruelties of an Alva is alone a title-deed to imperishable +fame and honour. Dutch men and women fought and died at the dykes, and +suffered awful agonies on the rack and at the stake. 'They sang songs of +triumph,' so the record runs, 'while the grave diggers were shovelling +earth over their living faces.' It is not, therefore, to be wondered at +that a legacy of true and deep feeling has been bequeathed to their +descendants, and the very suspicion of injustice or infringement of what +they consider liberty sets the Dutchman's heart aflame with patriotic +devotion or private resentment. Phlegmatic, even comal, and most difficult +to move in most things, yet any 'interference' wakes up the dormant spirit +which that Prince of Orange so forcibly expressed when he said, in +response to a prudent soldier's ear of consequences if resistance were +persisted in, 'We can at least die in the last ditch.' + +Until one understands this tenacity in the Dutch character one cannot +reconcile the old world methods seen all over the country with the +advanced ideas expressed in conversation, books, and newspapers. The +Dutchman hates to be interfered with, and resents the advice of candid +friends, and cannot stand any 'chaff.' He has his kind of humour, which is +slow in expression and material in conception, but he does not understand +'banter.' He is liberal in theories, but intensely conservative in +practice. He will _agree_ with a new theory, but often _do_ as his +grandfather did, and so in Holland there may be seen very primitive +methods side by side with _fin de siècle_ thought. In a _salon_ in any +principal town there will be thought the most advanced, and manner of life +the most luxurious; but a stone's-throw off, in a cottage or in a +farmhouse just outside the town, may be witnessed the life of the +seventeenth century. Some of the reasons for this may be gathered from the +following pages as they describe the social life and usages of the people. + +In the seven provinces which comprise the Netherlands there are +considerable differences in scenery, race, dialect, pronunciation, and +religion, and therefore in the features and character of the people. +United provinces in the course of time effect a certain homogeneity of +purpose and interest, yet there are certain fundamental differences in +character. The Frisian differs from the Zeelander: one is fair and the +other dark, and both differ from the Hollander. And not only do the +provincials differ in character, dialect, and pronunciation from one +another, but also the inhabitants of some cities differ in these respects +from those of other cities. An educated Dutchman can tell at once if a man +comes from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, or The Hague. The 'cockney' of these +places differs, and of such pronunciations 'Hague Dutch' is considered the +worst, although--true to the analogy of London--the best Dutch is heard in +The Hague. This difference in 'civic' pronunciation is certainly very +remarkable when one remembers that The Hague and Rotterdam are only +sixteen miles apart, and The Hague and Amsterdam only forty miles. Arnhem +and The Hague are the two most cosmopolitan cities in the kingdom, and one +meets in their streets all sorts and conditions of the Netherlander. + +[Illustration: A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type.] + +All other towns are provincial in character and akin to the county-town +type. Even Amsterdam, the capital of the country, is only a commercial +capital. The Court is only there for a few days in each year; Parliament +does not meet there; the public offices are not situated there; and +diplomatic representatives are not accredited to the Court at Amsterdam +but to the Court at The Hague; and so Amsterdam is 'the city,' and no more +and no less. This Venice of the North looks coldly on the pleasure seeking +and loving Hague, and jealously on the thriving and rapidly increasing +port of Rotterdam, and its merchant princes build their villas in the +neighbouring and pleasant woods of Bussum and Hilversum, and near the +brilliantly-coloured bulb-gardens of Haarlem, living in these suburban +places during the summer months, while in winter they return to the fine +old houses in the Heerengracht and the many other 'grachten' through which +the waters of the canals move slowly to the river. But to The Hague the +city magnates seldom come, and the young men consider their contemporaries +of the Court capital wanting in energy and initiative, and very proud, and +so there is little communication between the two towns--between the City +and Belgravia. One knows, as one walks in the streets of Amsterdam, The +Hague, Rotterdam, or Utrecht, that each place is a microcosm devoted to +its own particular and narrow interests, and in these respects they are +survivals of the Italian cities of the Middle Ages. There is, indeed, +great similarity in the style of buildings, and, with the exception of +Maestricht, in the south of the country, which is mediæval and Flemish, +one always feels that one is in Holland. The neatness of the houses, the +straight trees fringing the roads, the canals and their smell, the +steam-trams, the sound of the conductor's horn and the bells of the +horse-trams, the type of policeman, and above and beyond all the universal +cigar--all these things are of a pattern, and that pattern is seen +everywhere, and it is not until one has lived in the country for some time +that one recognizes that there are differences in the mode of life in the +larger towns which are more real than apparent, and that this practical +isolation is not realized by the stranger. + +The country life of the peasant, however, is much more uniform in +character, in spite of the many differences in costume and in dialect. The +methods of agriculture are all equally old-fashioned, and the peasants +equally behind the times in thought. Their thrifty habits and devotion to +the soil of their country ensure them a living which is thrown away by the +country folk of other lands, who at the first opportunity flock into the +towns. But the Dutch peasant _is_ a peasant, and does not mix, or want to +mix, with the townsman except in the way of business. He brings his garden +and farm produce for sale, and as soon as that is effected--generally very +much to his own advantage, for he is wonderfully 'slim'--he rattles back, +drawn by his dogs or little pony, to the farmhouse, and relates how he has +come safely back, his stock of produce diminished, but his stock of +inventions and subtleties improved and increased by contact with +housewives and shopkeepers, who do their best to drive a hard bargain. In +dealing with the 'boer' the townspeople's ingenuity is taxed to the utmost +in endeavouring to get the better of one whose nature is heavy but +cunning, and families who have dealt with the same 'boer' vendor for years +have to be as careful as if they were transacting business with an entire +stranger. The 'boer's' argument is simplicity itself: 'They try to get the +better of me, and I try to get the better of them'--and he _does_ it! + +If, however, there are these differences between city and city and class +and class, there is one common characteristic of the Dutchman which, like +the mist which envelops meadow and street alike in Holland after a warm +day, pertains to the whole race, viz. his deliberation, that slowness of +thought, speech, and action which has given rise to such proverbs as 'You +will see such and such a thing done "in a Dutch month."' The Netherlander +is most difficult to move, but once roused he is far more difficult to +pacify. Many reasons are given for this 'phlegm,' and most people +attribute it to the climate, which is very much abused, especially by +Dutch people themselves, because of its sunlessness during the winter +months; though as a matter of fact the climate is not so very different +from that in the greater part of England. The temperature on an average is +a little higher in summer and a little lower in winter than in the eastern +part of England; but certainly there is in the southern part of the +country a softness in the air which is enervating, and in such places as +Flushing snow is seldom seen, and does not lie long. But the same thing is +seen in Cornwall. Hence this climatic influence is not a sufficient reason +in itself to account for the undeniable and general 'slowness' of the +Dutchman. It is to be found rather in the history of the country, which +has taught the Netherlander to attempt to prove by other people's +experience the value of new ideas, and only when he has done so will he +adopt them. This saps all initiative. + +There is a great lack of faith in everything, in secular as well as +religious matters, the Dutchman will risk nothing, for four cents' outlay +he must be quite certain of six cents in return. As long as he is in this +mood the country will 'mark time,' but not advance much. The Dutchman +believes so thoroughly in being comfortable, and, given a modest income +which he has inherited or gained, he will not only not go a penny beyond +it in his expenditure, but often he will live very much below it. He would +never think of 'living up to' his income; his idea is to leave his +children something very tangible in the shape of guldens. A small income +and little or no work is a far more agreeable prospect than a really busy +life allied to a large income. All the cautiousness of the Scotchman the +Dutchman has, but not the enterprise and industry. With his +cosmopolitanism, which he has gained by having to learn and converse in so +many languages, in order to transact the large transfer business of such a +country as the Netherlands, he has acquired all the various views of life +which cosmopolitanism opens to a man's mind. The Dutchman can talk upon +politics extremely well, but his interest is largely academic and not +personal; he is as a man who looks on and loves _desipere in loco_. + +The Dutchman is therefore a philosopher and a delightful _raconteur_, but +at present he is not doing any very great things in the international +battle of life, though when great necessity arises there is no man who can +do more or do better. + + + + +Chapter II + +Court and Society + + + +Society life in Holland is, as everywhere else, the gentle art of escaping +self-confession of boredom. But society in Holland is far different from +society abroad, because The Hague, the official residence of Queen +Wilhelmina, is not only not the capital of her kingdom, but is only the +third town of the country so far as importance and population go. The +Hague is the royal residence and the seat of the Netherlands Government; +but although, as a rule, Cabinet Ministers live there, most of the members +of the First Chamber of the States-General live elsewhere, and a great +many of their colleagues of the Second Chamber follow their example, +preferring a couple of hours' railway travelling per day or per week +during the time the States sit, to a permanent stay. Hence, so far as +political importance goes, society has to do without it to a great extent. +Nor is The Hague a centre of science. The universities of Leyden, Utrecht, +and Amsterdam are very near, but, as the Dutch proverb judiciously says, +'Nearly is not half;' there is a vast difference between having the rose +and the thing next to it. In consequence the leading scientific men of the +Netherlands do not, as a rule, add the charm of their conversation to +social intercourse at The Hague. + +High life there is represented by members of the nobility and by such +high officials in the army, navy, and civil service as mix with that +nobility. Of course there are sets just as there are everywhere else, sets +as delightful to those who are in them as they are distasteful to +outsiders; but talent and money frequently succeed in making serious +inroads upon the preserves of noble birth. This is, however, unavoidable, +for the Netherlands were a republic for two centuries, and the scions of +the ancient houses are not over-numerous. They fought well in the wars of +their country against Spain, France, and Great Britain, but fighting well +in many cases meant extermination. + +On the other hand, two centuries of republican rule are apt to turn any +republicans into patricians, particularly so if they are prosperous, +self-confident, and well aware of their importance. And a patrician +republic necessarily turns into an oligarchy. The prince-merchants of +Holland were Holland's statesmen, Holland's absolute rulers; two centuries +of heroic struggles, intrepid energy, crowned with success on all sides, +may even account for their belief that they were entrusted by the Almighty +with a special mission to bring liberty, equal rights, and prosperity to +other nations. + +When, after Napoleon's downfall, the Netherlands constituted themselves a +kingdom, the depleted ranks of the aristocracy were soon amply filled from +these old patrician families. Clause 65 of the Netherlands constitution +says, 'The Queen grants nobility. No Dutchman may accept foreign +nobility.' This is the only occasion upon which the word nobility appears +in any code. No Act defines the status, privileges, or rights of this +nobility, because there are none. There is, however, a 'Hooge Raad van +Adel,' consisting of a permanent chairman, a permanent secretary, and +four members, whose functions it is to report on matters of nobility, +especially heraldic and genealogic, and on applications from Town Councils +which wish to use some crest or other. This 'High Council of Nobility' +acts under the supervision of the Minister of Justice, and its powers are +regulated by royal decrees, or writs in council. The titles used are +'Jonkheer' (Baronet) and 'Jonkvrouw,' Baron and Baroness, 'Graaf' (Earl) +and 'Gravin.' Marquess and Duke are not used as titles by Dutch noblemen. +If any man is ennobled, ail his children, sons as well as daughters, share +the privilege, so there is no 'courtesy title;' officially they are +indicated by the father's rank from the moment of their birth, but as long +as they are young it is the custom to address the boys as 'Jonker,' the +girls as 'Freule.' + +For the rest, life at The Hague is very much like life everywhere else. In +summer there is a general exodus to foreign countries; in winter, dinners, +bazaars, balls, theatre, opera, a few officiai Court functions, which may +become more numerous in the near future if the young Queen and Prince +Henry are so disposed, are the order of the day. For the present, 'Het +Loo,' that glorious country-seat in the centre of picturesque, hilly, +wooded Gelderland, continues to be the favourite residence of the Court, +and only during the colder season is the palace in the 'Noordeinde,' at +The Hague, inhabited by the Queen. + +Her Majesty, apparently full of youthful mirth and energy, enjoys her life +in a wholesome and genuine manner. State business is, of course, dutifully +transacted; but as the entire constitutional responsibility rests with the +Cabinet Ministers and the High Councils of State, she has no need to feel +undue anxiety about her decisions. She is well educated, a strong patriot, +and has on the whole a serions turn of mind, which came out in pathetic +beauty as she took the oath in the 'Nieuwe Kerk' of Amsterdam at her +coronation. How far she and her husband will influence and lead Society +life in Holland remains to be seen. Both are young, and their union is +younger still. During the late King's life and Queen Emma's subsequent +widowhood, society was for scores of years left to itself, and of course +it has settled down into certain grooves. But, on the other hand, the +tastes and inclinations of well-bred, well to do people, with an +inexhaustible amount of spare time on their hands, and an unlimited +appetite for amusement in their minds, are everywhere the same. Of course, +Ministerial receptions, political dinners, and the intercourse of +Ambassadors and foreign Ministers at The Hague form a special feature of +social life there, but here, again, The Hague is just like European +capitals generally. + +Once every year the Dutch Court and the Dutch capital proper meet. +Legally, by the way, it is inaccurate to indicate even Amsterdam as the +capital of Holland; no statute mentions a capital of the kingdom, but by +common consent Amsterdam, being the largest and most important town, is +always accorded that title, so highly valued by its inhabitants. The Royal +Palace in Amsterdam is royal enough, and it is also sufficiently palatial, +but it is no Royal Palace in the strict sense of the word. It was built +(1649-1655), and for centuries was used, as a Town Hall. As such it is a +masterpiece, and one's imagination can easily go back to the times when +the powerful and masterful Burgomasters and Sheriffs met in the almost +oppressing splendour of its vast hall. It is an ideal meeting-place for +stern merchants, enterprising shipowners, and energetic traders. Every +hall, every room, every ornament speaks of trade, trade, and trade again. +And there lies some grim irony in the fact that these merchants, whose +meeting-place is surmounted by the proud symbol of Atlas carrying the +globe, offered that mansion as a residence to their kings, when Holland +and Amsterdam could no longer boast of supporting the world by their +wealth and their energy. + +Here they meet once a year--the stern, ancient city, represented by its +sturdy citizens, its fair women, its proud inhabitants, and Holland's +youthful Queen, blossoming forth as a symbol of new, fresh life, fresh +hope and promise. Here they meet, the sons and daughters of the men and +women who never gave way, who saw their immense riches accrue, as their +liberties grew, by sheer force of will, by inflexible determination, by +dauntless power of purpose; here they meet, the last descendant of the +famous House of Orange-Nassau, the queenly bride, whose forefathers were +well entitled to let their proud war-cry resound on the battlefields of +Europe: 'À moi, généreux sang de Nassau!' + +When the Queen is in Amsterdam the citizens go out to the 'Dam,' the +Square where the palace stands, offering their homage by cheers and +waving of hats, and by singing the war-psalm of the old warriors of +William the Silent, 'Wilhelmus van Nassouwe.' Then the leaders of +Amsterdam, its merchants, scientists, and artists, leave their beautiful +homes on Heeren-and Keizers-gracht, with their wives and daughters +wrapped in costly garments, glittering in profusion of diamonds and +rubies and pearls, and drive to the huge palace to offer homage to their +Queen, just as proud as she, just as patriotic as she, just as faithful +and loyal as she. + +Three hundred years have done their incessant work in welding the House of +Orange and Amsterdam together; ruptures and quarrels have occurred; yet, +after every struggle, both found out that they could not well do without +each other; and now when the Queen and the city meet, mutual respect, +mutual confidence, and reciprocal affection attest the firm bond which +unites them. + +To the Amsterdam patriciate the yearly visit of the Queen is a social +function full of interest. To the Queen it is more than that; she visits +not only the patricians, she also visits the people, the poor and the +toilers. Of course Amsterdam has its Socialists, and a good many of them, +too, and Socialists are not only fiery but also vociferous republicans as +a rule, who believe that royalty and a queen are a blot upon modern +civilization. But their sentiments, however well uttered, are not popular. +For when 'Our Child,' as the Queen is still frequently called, drives +through the workmen's quarter of Amsterdam, the 'Jordaan' (a corruption of +the French _jardin_), the bunting is plentiful, the cheering and singing +are more so, and the general enthusiasm surpasses both. The 'man in the +street,' that remarkable political genius of the present age, has scarcely +ever wavered in his simple affection for his Prince and Princess of +Orange; and though this affection is personal, not political--for nothing +is political to 'the man in the street'--there it is none the less, and it +does not give way to either reasoning or prejudice. + +Such is the external side of Court life. Internally it strikes one as +simple and unaffected. Queen Emma was a lady possessing high +qualifications as a mother and as a ruler. She grasped with undeniable +shrewdness the popular taste and fancy, she had no difficulty in realizing +that her rather easy-going, sometimes blustering, Consort could have +retained a great deal more of his popularity by very simple means, if he +had cared to do so. She did care, so she allowed her little girl to be a +little girl, and she let the people notice it. She went about with her, +all through the country, and the people beheld not two proud princesses, +strutting about in high and mighty manner, but a gracions, kind lady and +an unaffected child. This child showed a genuine interest in sport in +Friesland, in excavations in Maastricht, in ships and quays and docks in +Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and in hospitals and orphanages everywhere. +Anecdotes came into existence--the little Queen had been seen at +'hop-scotch,' had refused to go to bed early, had annoyed her governess, +had been skating, had been snow balling her royal mother, etc. And later, +when she was driving or riding, when she attended State functions or paid +official visits, there was always a simplicity in her turn out, a quiet +dignity in her demeanour, which proved that she felt no particular desire +to advertise herself as one of the wealthiest sovereigns of the world by +the mere splendour of her surroundings. + +This supreme tact of Queen Emma resulted in her daughter being educated +as a queen, as the Dutch like their sovereigns. Court life in The Hague +or at the Loo certainly lacks neither dignity nor brilliancy, but it +lacks showiness, and many an English nobleman lives in a grander style +than Holland's Queen. Now, education may bend, but it does not alter a +charactcr, and whatever qualifies may have adorned or otherwise +influenced the late King, he was no more a stickler for etiquette or a +lover of display than Queen Emma has proved to be. So there is a +probability that their daughter will also be satisfied with very limited +show, and if Prince Henry be wise, he will not interfere with the Queen's +inclinations. He is said to be 'horsy,' but the same may be said of her, +though as yet her 'horsiness' has not become an absorbing passion, nor +is it likely to be. + +It is said also that she abhors music; but as long as she, as Queen, does +not transfer her abhorrence from the art to the artists, no harm will be +done. The facts are that, simple as her tastes are, she does not impose +her simplicity upon others. When she presides at State dinners or at Court +dinners, she is entirely the _grande dame_, but when she is allowed to be +wholly herself, in a small, quiet circle, she is praised by every one, low +or high, who has been favoured with an invitation to the royal table, for +her natural and unaffected manners, her urbanity, and her gentle courtesy. + + + + +Chapter III + +The Professional Classes + + + +The professional classes of Holland show their characteristics best in the +social circle in which they move and find their most congenial +companionships. Imagine, then, that we are the guests of the charming wife +of a successful counsel ('advocaat en procureur')--Mr. Walraven, let us +call him--settled in a large and prosperous provincial town. She is a +typical Dutch lady, with bright complexion, kind, clear blue eyes, rather +dark eyebrows, which give a piquant air to the white and pink of the face, +and a mass of fair golden hair, simply but tastefully arranged, leaving +the ears free, and adorning but not hiding the comely shape of the head. +She wears a dark-brown silk dress, covered with fine Brussels lace around +the neck, at the wrists, along the bodice, and here and there on the +skirt. A few rings glitter on her fingers, and her hands are constantly +busy with a piece of point lace embroidery; for many Dutch ladies cannot +stand an evening without the companionship of a 'handwerkje,' as +fancy-needlework is called. It does not in the least interfere with their +conversational duties. She is rather tall. Dutch men and women seem to +have all sizes equally distributed amongst them; it cannot be said that +they are a short people, like the French and the Belgians, nor can the +indication of middle size be so rightly applied to them as to their +German neighbours, whereas the taller Anglo-Saxons can frequently find +their match in the Netherlands. + +The room in which we are seated is furnished in so-called 'old Dutch +style.' My friend and his wife have collected fine old wainscots, +sideboards and cupboards of richly carved oak in Friesland and in the +Flemish parts of Belgium. Their tables and chairs are all of the same +material and artistically cut. A very dark, greenish-grey paper covers the +walls; the curtains, the carpet, and the doors are in the same slightly +sombre shades. Venetian mirrors, Delft, Chinese and Rouen china plates, +arranged along the walls, over the carved oak bench, and on the +over-mantel, make delightful patches of bright colour in the room, and the +easy-chairs are as stylish as they are comfortable. + +Our visit has fallen in the late autumn, and the gas burns bnghtly in the +bronze chandelier, while the fire in the old-fashioned circulating stove, +a rare specimen of ancient Flemish design, makes the room look cosy and +hospitable. For the moment our friend the lawyer is absent. He has been +called away to his study, for a client has come to see him on urgent +business, and we are left in the gracious society of his wife in the +comfortable sitting-room. On the table the Japan tray, with its silver +teapot, sugar-basin, milk-jug and spoon-box of mother-of-pearl and +crystal, and its dark-blue real China cups and saucers, enjoys the company +of two silver boxes, on silver trays, full of all sorts of 'koekjes' +(sweet biscuits). Many Dutch families like to take a 'koekje' with their +tea, tea-time falling in Holland between 7 and 8 o'clock, half-way between +dinner at 5 or 6 p.m. and supper at 10 or 11 p.m. A cigar-stand is not +wanting, nor yet dainty ash-trays; while by the side of our hostess is an +old-fashioned brass 'komfoor,' or chafer,[Footnote: _Komfoor_ (or +_kaffoor_) and _chafer_ are etymologically the same word, derived from the +Latin _califacere_. The French member of the family is _chauffoir_.] on a +high foot, so that within easy reach of the lady's hand is the handle of +the brass kettle, in which the 'theewater' is boiling. + +Conversation turns from politics and literature to the ball to which my +hostess, her husband, and we as their guests have been invited at a +friend's house. She intends to go earlier; he and we are to follow later +in the evening, for that evening his 'Krans' is to meet at his house, and +it will keep us till eleven o'clock. A 'Krans' is simply a small company +of very good friends who meet, as a rule, once a month, at the house of +one of them, and at such meetings converse about things in general. The +English word for 'Krans' is 'wreath,' and the name indicates the intimate +and thoroughly friendly relations existing between the composing members. +They are twisted and twined together not merely by affectionate feeling, +but also by equality of social position, education, and intelligence. + +Our friend's little circle numbers seven, and as every one of them happens +to be the leading man in his profession in that town, and in consequence +wields a powerful influence, their 'Krans' is generally nicknamed the +'Heptarchy.' Our friend the lawyer is not only a popular legal adviser, +but as 'Wethouder' (alderman) for finance and public works he is the +much-admired originator of the rejuvenated town. The place had been +fortified in former days, but after the home defence of Holland was +re-organized and a System of defence on a coherent and logically +conceived basis accepted, all fortified towns disappeared and became open +cities, of which this was one. The public-spirited lawyer grasped the +situation at once, and, spurred by his influence and enthusiasm, the Town +Council adopted a large scheme of streets, roads, parks, and squares, so +that when all was completed the inhabitants of the old city scarcely knew +where they were. Besides this, he is legal adviser of the local branch of +the Netherlands Bank, a director on the boards of various limited +companies, and the president-director of a prosperous Savings Bank. +Nevertheless, he finds time in his crowded life to read a great deal, to +see his friends occasionally, and to keep up an incessant courtship of his +handsome wife, who in return asseverates that he is the most sociable +husband in the world. + +After Walraven has returned to the tea table, his admiring consort leaves +us, and shortly afterwards his best friend, within and without the +'Krans,' Dr. Klaassen, appears on the scene. He and Dr. Klaassen were +students at the same University, and nothing is better fitted to form +lifelong friendship than the freedom of Holland's University life and +University education. Dr. Klaassen is one of the most attractive types of +the Dutch medical man. His University examinations did not tie him too +tightly to his special science. Like ail Dutch students, he mixed freely +with future lawyers, clergymen, philosophers, and philologists, and it is +often said that while the University teaches young men chiefly sound +methods of work, students in Holland acquire quite as much instruction +from each other as from their professors. Doctor Klaassen left the +University as fresh as when he entered it, and ready to take a +healthvariousest in all departments of human affairs. He is a man to whom +the Homeric phrase might well be applied--'A physician is a man knowing +more than many others.' + +His non-professional work takes him to the boards and comrmttees of +societies promoting charity, ethics, religion, literature, and the fine +arts. The local branch of the famous 'Maatschappÿ tot Nut van 't Algemeen' +(the 'Society for promoting the Common-weal') and its various +institutions, schools, libraries, etc., find in him one of their most +energetic and faithful directors; a local hospital admitting people of all +religions denominations has grown up by his untiring energy; and he +prepared the basis upon which younger men afterwards built what is now a +model institution in Holland; nor does he forget the poor and the orphans, +to whom he gives quite half his time, though how much of his money he +gives them nobody knows, least of all he himself. + +The Reverend Mr. Barendsen, the third arrival, is a very different person. +His sermons are eloquent; he is a fluent speaker--too fluent, some say, +for words and phrases come so easily to him that the lack of thought is +not always felt by this preacher, although noticed by his flock. Now, a +sermon for Dutch Protestants is a difficult thing; it has to be long +enough to fill nearly a whole service of about two hours; and it is +listened to by educated and uneducated people, who all expect to be +edified. Dominee Barendsen, like so many of his colleagues, tries to meet +this difficulty by giving light nourishment in an attractive form. But if +his sermons do not succeed as well as his kind intentions deserve, his +influence is firmly established by his sympathetic personality. He may be +much more superficial than his two friends; he may be less dogged, less +tenacious than they; yet his fertile brain, his quick intelligence, and +his serious character have won for him a unique position, and his public +influence is very great. Both doctor and parson meet and mix in the best +society of the town, but the slums of the poor are also equally well known +to them; neither is a member of the Town Council, but the same +institutions have their common support. Livings in Holland are not +over-luxurious; and the consequence is that many 'Dominees' go out +lecturing, or make an additional income by translating or writing books. +Some of Holland's best and most successful authors and poets are, or were, +clergymen, such as Allard Pierson, P. A. de Génestet, Nicolaas Beets +(Hildebrand), Coenraad Busken Huet, J. J. L. ten Kate, Dr. Jan ten Brink, +Bernard ter Haar, etc. Dominee Barendsen is likewise well known in Dutch +literary circles. + +General Hendriks is the next to be announced. Dutch officers do not like +to go about in their uniform, but the gallant general is also expected at +the ball, and so he has donned his military garments. He is a 'Genist,' a +Royal Engineer, and had his education at the Royal Military Academy at +Breda. This means that he is no swashbuckler, but a genial, well-mannered, +open-minded and well-read gentleman, with a somewhat scientific turn of +mind and a rare freedom from military prejudice. Hollanders are not a +military people in the German sense, and fire-eaters and military fanatics +are rare, but they are rarest amongst the officers of the General Staff, +the Royal Engineers, and the Artillery. + +General Hendriks married a lady of title with a large fortune, so his +position is a very pleasant one. His friendship for the other +'Heptarchists' is necessarily of recent date, for he has been abroad a +great deal, and was five years in the Dutch East Indies fighting in the +endless war against Atchin. His stay there has widened his views still +more, and when he tells of his experiences he is at once interesting and +attractive, for he is well-informed and a charming _raconteur_. His rank +causes Society to impose on him duties which he is inclined to consider as +annoying, but he fulfils them graciously enough. He is a popular +president-director of the "Groote Societeit" (the Great Club), and of +Caecilia, the most prominent society for vocal and instrumental music; and +whenever races, competitions, exhibitions, bazaars, and similar social +functions, to which the Dutch are greatly addicted, take place, General +Hendriks is sure to be one of the honorary presidents, or at least a +member of the working board, and his urbanity and affability are certain +to ensure success. He has been a member of the States-General, and is said +to be a probable future Minister of War. But the weak spot in his heart is +for poetry and for literature generally; the number of poems he knows by +heart is marvellous, and at the meetings of the Heptarchy he freely +indulges his love of quotations, a pleasure he strictly denies himself in +other surroundings, for fear of boring people. But everybody has a dim +presumption that the general knows a good deal more than most people are +aware of, and this dim presumption is strengthened by the very firm +conviction that he is an exceedingly genial man and a 'jolly good fellow.' + +Mr. Ariens, Lit.D., 'Rector of the Gymnasium (equivalent to Head-master of +a Grammar School), is the most remarkable type even in this very +remarkable set of men. He is highly unconventional, and his boys adore +him, while his old boys admire him, and the parents are his perennial +debtors in gratitude. He is unconventional in everything, in his dress, in +his way of living, in his opinions and judgments, but he parades none of +these, reducing them to neither a whim nor a hobby. He passed some years +in the Dutch Indies, travelled all over Europe, knows more of Greek, +Latin, and antiquities than anybody else, and is as thoroughly scientific +as any University professer. But the Government will never give him a +vacant chair, for his pedagogical powers surpass even his scientific +abilities, and they cannot spare such men in such places. To some +aristocratic people his noble simple-mindedness is downright appalling; +but when he goes about in dull, cold, wintry weather and visits the poor +wretches in the slums, where nature and natural emotions and forms of +speech are quite unconventional, he is duly appreciated. For he is not +only a splendid 'gymnasii rector,' he is also a very charitable man, +though he likes only one form of charity, that by which the rich man first +educates himself into being the poor man's friend, and then only offers +his sympathy and help, the charity which the one can give and the other +take without either of them feeling degraded by the act. He is not a +public-body man, our 'Rector,' but his friends appreciate his keen, just +judgment. They may disagree with him on some points, but a discussion with +him is always interesting on account of his original, fresh method of +thought, and instructive by reason of his very superior and universal +knowledge. + +His best friend is Mr. Jacobs, a civil engineer. Dutch civil engineers are +educated at Delft, at the Polytechnic School, after having passed their +final examination at a 'Higher Burgher School.' Boys of sixteen or +seventeen are not fit to digest sciences by the dozen, and, however +pleasant and convenient it may be to become a walking cyclopedia, a +cyclopedia is not a living book, but a dead accumulation of dead +knowledge, which may inform though it does not educate. Happily, the +majority of Dutch engineers are saved by the Polytechnic School, where +they have about the same liberty as undergraduates at the Universities to +go their own way. Educationally they are not so well equipped, attention +only being paid to mental instruction, for the Director of a 'Higher +Burgher School' is a different man from the Rector of a Gymnasium, while +the System over which he presides is more or less incoherent so far as +educational considerations go. + +But if a civil engineer is a success he is generally a big one. So is Mr. +Jacobs. He is thoroughly well read, though his reading may be somewhat +desultory. His splendid memory, assisted by a remarkably quick wit, allows +him to feel interested in nearly everything--sociology, literature, art, +music, theatre, sport, charity, municipal enterprise. If he is +superficial, nobody notices it, for he is much too smart to show it. His +general level-headedness makes him an inexhaustible source of admiration +to Dr. Ariens, whose peer he is in kindness of heart. His manner is +irreproachable; he never loses his temper in discussion, and treats his +opponents in such a quiet, courteous way that they are obviously sorry to +disagree with him. His business capacities are of the first rank; he makes +as much money as he likes, and however crowded his life may be, he always +finds time for more work. He is a member of the Town Council and a staunch +supporter of Walraven's progressive plans. Walraven has certain misgivings +about Jacobs' thoroughness, but he fully realizes his friend's quick grasp +of things. He may build bridges, irrigate whole districts, and drain +marshes in Holland, open up mines in Spain, build docks in America, or +hunt for petroleum in Russia; he is always sure to succeed, and a fair +profit for himself, at any rate, is the invariable result of his +exertions. He travels a great deal, knows everybody everywhere, and always +turns up again in the old haunts, bristling with interesting information, +visibly enjoying his busy, full life, and not without a certain vanity, +arising from the feeling that his fellow-citizens are rather proud of him. + +The last to come is Mr. Smits, President of the Court of Justice, a man of +philosophical turn of mind, an ardent student of social problems, a fine +lawyer, a first-rate speaker, a shrewd judge of men, and a tolerant and +mild critic of their weaknesses. He also is a member of the Town Council, +and, like Jacobs, a member of a municipal committee of which Walraven is +the chairman. Their duties are the supervision and general management of +the communal trade and industry, such as tramways, gas-works, +water-supply, slaughter-houses, electrical supply, corn exchange, public +parks and public gardens, hothouses and plantations, etc. Smits is also +the chairman of two debating societies, one for workmen and the other for +the better educated classes; but social problems are the chief topics +discussed at both. These societies, he says, keep him well in touch with +the general drift of the popular mind; as a fact, by his encouraging ways, +he draws from the people what is in their thoughts and hearts, and very +often succeeds in correcting wrong impressions and conceptions. He is also +the Worshipful Master of the local Masonic lodge, 'The Three Rings,' so +called after the famous parable of religions tolerance in Lessing's noble +drama, _Nathan der Weise_. Dutch Freemasonry is not churchy as in England; +it is charitable, teaches ethics as distinct from, but not opposed to, +religion, admits men of all creeds and of no creed whatever, and preaches +tolerance all round; but it fights indifferentism, apathy, or carelessness +on all matters affecting the material, intellectual, and psychical +well-being of mankind. + +Smits feels very strongly on all these matters, and his enthusiasm is of +a staying kind; but the ancient device 'Suaviter in modo' has quite as +much charm for him as its counterpart, 'Fortiter in re.' The consequence +is that superficial people take him for a Socialist because he neither +prosecutes nor persecutes Socialists for the opinions they hold. Himself +an agnostic, and lacking religions sentiment, he realises so well the +supreme influence of religion on numberless people and the comfort they +derive from it, that many consider him not nearly firm enough in his +intercourse with Roman Catholics or 'orthodox' Protestants, with whom, in +fact, he frequently arranges political 'deals.' For Smits is, if not the +chairman, the most influential and active member of the Liberal caucus; +and, being in favour of proportional representation, he insists that the +other political parties shall have their fair number of Town Councillors. + +Such are the men who come together in this elegant and yet homely +sitting-room; each of them a leader in his profession, each of them coming +in daily and close contact with all sorts and conditions of men and women +in the town, and enabled by their wide and unbiassed views of humanity and +human affairaffairsntrol them and to divert the common energies in wise +paths. The 'Heptarchy' has, of course, no legal standing as such, but from +their conversations one understands the influence which its members wield +by their intellectual and moral superiority. They conspire in no way to +attain certain ends, but discuss things as intimately as only brothers or +man and wife can discuss them, in the genial intimacy of their unselfish +friendship. They generally agree on the lines to be taken in certain +matters, but even if they fail to agree, this does not prevent them from +acting according to their own rights, still respecting each other's +convictions and preferences. And not only local topics are discussed in +the meetings of the 'Heptarchy,' for politics, art, trade, and science, +foreign and Dutch, come within their scope; for their intellectual +outlook, like their sympathies, is universal. + +Towards eleven o'clock we take leave of each other. Walraven, Hendriks, +and ourselves go to the ball at the house of the 'Commissaris der +Koningin' (Queen's Commissioner), the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, Baron +Alma van Strae. Baron and Baroness Alma live in a palatial mansion, and we +find the huge reception and drawing rooms full of a gay crowd of young +folk. The rooms are beautifully decorated, there is a profusion of flowers +and palms in the halls and on the stairs; and a host of footmen in +bright-buttoned, buff-coloured livery coats, short trousers, and white +stockings, move quietly about, betraying the well-trained instincts of +hereditary lackeydom. There are county councillors, judges, officers of +army and navy, bankers, merchants, manufacturers, town councillors, the +mayor and town clerk, the president and some members of the Chamber of +Commerce, and committee-men of orphanages and homes for old people. All +have brought their wives, daughters, and sons to do the dancing, for +though they occasionally join themselves, they prefer to indulge in a +quiet game of whist or to settle down in Baron Alma's smoking and billiard +room for a cigar. + +These social fonctions, however, are much the same in Holland as in other +countries. Etiquette may differ in small details, but on the whole the +world of society lives the same life, cultivates the same interests, and +amuses or bores itself in much the same fashion. It is _tout comme chez +nous_ in this as in nearly everything else. + +On the whole, this elegant crowd shows a somewhat greater amount of +deference towards professionals than towards officials. Doctors, lawyers, +and parsons are clearly highly esteemed; it is the victory of intellect in +a fair field of encounter. In The Hague the officials beat them, but not +so much on account of their office as in consrquence of the fact that so +many are titled persons, highly connected and frequently well off. But +after the great Revolution and the Napoleonic times officialdom lost its +influence and social importance in Holland in consequence of the +demolition of the oligarchic, patrician Republic; and clause five of the +Netherlands constitution, which declares that 'Every Netherlander may be +appointed to every public office,' is a very real and true description of +the actual, visible facts of social life. + + + + +Chapter IV + +The Position of Women + + + +The Dutch woman, generally speaking, is not the 'new woman' in the sense +of taking any very definite part in the politics of the country. Neither +does she interest herself, or interfere, in ecclesiastical matters. +Dutchmen have not a very high opinion of the mental and administrative +qualities of their womenfolk outside of what is considered their sphere, +but for all that the women of the upper class are certainly more clever +than the men, but as they do not take any practical part in the questions +which are 'burning,' as far as any question does burn in this land of +dampness, their interest is academic rather than real. The wives of the +small shopkeeper, the artisan, and the peasant take much the same place as +women of these classes in other European countries. They are kind mothers, +thrifty housewives, very fond of their 'man,' not averse to the +fascinations of dress, and in their persons and houses extremely trim and +tidy, while the poorest quarters of the large towns are, compared with the +slums of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, pictures of neatness. It is +true that windows are seldom opened, for no Dutch window opens at the top, +and so in passing by an open door in the poor quarters of a town one gets +a whiff of an inside atmosphere which baffles description; but the inside +of the house is 'tidy,' and one can see the gleam of polished things, +telling of repeated rubbings, scrubbings, and scourings. In fact, +cleanliness in Holland has become almost a disease, and scrubbing and +banging go on from morning until night both outside and inside a house. + +Probably the abundant supply of water accounts for the universal washing, +for, not content with washing everything inside a house, they wash the +outside too, and even the bark of any trees which happen to lie within the +zone of operations. The plinths and bricks of the houses are scrubbed as +far as the arms can reach or a little hand-squirt can carry water. In +cottages both in town and country there is the same cleanliness, but the +people stop short of washing themselves, and the bath among the poorer +classes is practically unknown. People of this kind may not have had one +for thirty or forty years, and will receive the idea with derision and +look on the practice as a 'fad,' while the case of many animals is +seriously cited as an argument that it is quite unnecessary. A doctor told +me once of a rich old patient of the farming class near Utrecht who, on +being ordered a bath, said, 'Any amount of physic, but a bath--never!' On +the principle that you cannot do everything, personal cleanliness is apt +to go to the wall, and the energies of the Dutchwomen of the lower middle +and the poorer classes are concentrated on washing everything _inanimate,_ +even the brick footpath before the houses, which accounts for the clean +appearance of the Dutch streets in town and country. Even a heavy downpour +of rain does not interfere with the housewife's or servant's weekly +practice, and you will see servants holding up umbrellas while they wash +the fronts of the houses. This excessive cleanliness, together with the +other household duties of mother and wife, fills up the ordinary day, and +a newspaper or book is seldom seen in their hands. + +Passing on to the middle class, we find the mistress's time largely taken +up with directing the servants and bargaining with the tradesmen, who in +many cases bring their goods round from house to house. The lady of the +house takes care to lock up everything after the supplies for the day have +been given out, and the little basket full of keys which she carries about +with her is a study in itself. Even in the upper class this locking up is +a general practice, for very few people keep a housekeeper. The mistress +also takes care of the 'pot.' This is an ingenious but objectionable +device to make a guest pay for his dinner. On leaving a house after dining +you give one of the servants a florin, and all the money so collected is +put into a box, and at certain times is divided between the servants, so +that a servant on applying for a situation asks what is the value of the +'pot' in the year. There are signs of this practice of feeing servants +after a dinner being done away with, for it spoils the idea of +hospitality, and one's host on bidding you 'Good-bye' resorts to many +little artifices in order not to see that you do fee his servant, added to +which you are very likely to shake hands with him with the florin in your +hand, which you have been furtively trying to transfer to the left hand +from the right, and very often the guest drops the wretched coin in his +efforts to give it unseen. It is to be hoped that the ladies of Holland +will succeed in abolishing a custom which is disagreeable alike to +entertainer and entertained. + +The women of the upper middle class are certainly much better educated +than their English sisters. They always can speak another language than +their own, and very often two, French and English now being common, while +a few add German and a little Italian, but most of them read German, if +they do not speak it. French is universal, however, for the French novel +is far more to the taste than the more sober English book. The number and +quality of these French books read by the Dutch young lady are enough to +astonish and probably shock an English girl, who reads often with +difficulty the safe 'Daudet' ('Sapho' excepted), but the young Dutchwoman +knows of no _Index Expurgatorius,_ and reads what she likes. At the same +time the classics of England and Germany are very generally read and +valued, and many a Dutchwoman could pass a better examination on the text +and meaning of Shakespeare than the English-woman, whose knowledge is too +often limited to memories of the Cambridge texts of the great poets used +in schools. + +But, well educated as the Dutchwoman undoubtedly is, there is nothing +about her of the 'blue-stocking,' and she does not impress you as being +clever until a long acquaintance has brought out her many-sided knowledge. +The great pity is that her education leads to so little, for there are +very few channels into which a Dutchwoman can direct her knowledge. +Politics turn for the most part on differences in religions questions, +which are abstruse and dry to the feminine mind, and of practical +political life she sees nothing. There is no 'terrace,' no Primrose +League, no canvassing, no political _salon_, no excitement about +elections; and added to these negatives, women get snubbed if they venture +opinions on political matters, and young people generally look upon +politics _et hoc genus omne_ as a bore, and the names of the great +statesmen at the helm of affairs are frequently not even known by the +younger generation. Little interest is also taken in the army and navy, +owing to the fact that there is so little active service in the former and +to the smallness of the latter; and woman does not care much about +orders, regulations, manoeuvres and comparative strengths--she wants +'heroes,' and to know what they have done, and does not consider what the +'services' might, could, or should do. The officers who have served in +India and have seen active service rank high in her estimation, but as +these are few, beyond the affection bestowed upon soldier husband, +brother, or lover, which is chiefly displayed in anxiety lest they should +be sent to do garrison duty in some town where social advantages are small +or _nil_, there is no great interest taken in army affairs by the +Dutchwoman. As to the navy, they philosophically acquiesce in the fact +that as a ship must sail on the water they must patiently bear the +necessary separation from their sailor friends. + +When we come to things ecclesiastical there is still less interest taken +in the Church. The Roman Catholic Church is outside the question, for the +position of the laity there has been well described as 'kneeling in front +of the altar, sitting under the pulpit, and putting one's hand in one's +pocket without demur when money is required.' The Protestant laity, +however, do not take any great interest in the National Church, and while +there are deaconesses devoted to nursing and all good works, as there are +_soeurs de charité_ in the Roman communion, yet the rank and file of +Dutchwomen do not trouble about their church beyond attending it +occasionally--one may say, very occasionally. There is but little +brightness in the services of the Reformed Church, no ritual, no scope for +artistic work, no curates, and above and beyond ail, no career in the +Church for the clergy. At the best they may get sent to one of the large +towns, but the life is the same as in the village for the wife of the +'domine,' as the Dutch pastor is called. And if the domines move about in +fear and trembling because of the argus-eyes and often Midas-like ears of +the deacons, their wives must be still more discreet. One 'domine' has +been known to brave public opinion and ride a bicycle, but for a mother in +Israel to do the like would scandalize all good members of the Reformed +Church. The wives of the clergy, however, do good and useful work, and +probably are more real helpmeets to their husbands than women in any other +class of what may be called official life, but they take no sort of lead +in parochial or ecclesiastical matters. They do not direct the feminine +influences which do work in the parish, but rather take their place as one +of them. If, therefore, a woman marries a clergyman, she does so for love +of the man and his work's sake; there cannot be a tinge of ambition as to +the career of her husband, for there are no such things as comfortable +rectories and prospective deaneries or bishoprics, with their consequent +influence and power. Nothing but love of the man brings the 'domine' a +wife, and she knows that there will be inquisitorial eyes and not too kind +speeches about her behaviour from the 'faithful,' while the great people, +to their loss, will ignore her socially in much the same way as Queen +Elizabeth did the wives of the bishops in her day. + +Passing to lighter subjects, Dutch girls are now breaking loose from the +stiffness and espionage in which their mothers were brought up, and this +is without doubt in a large measure due to the introduction of sport. +Tennis, hockey, golf, and more especially bicycling have conferred, by +the force of circumstances, a freedom which strength of argument, +entreaty, and tears failed to effect. Mothers and and chaperons do not, +as a rule, bicycle, and play tennis and golf; they cannot always go to +club meetings, even to yawn through the sets, and so the young people +play by themselves, and there are fast growing a lack of restraint and a +healthy freedom of intercourse which are gravely deprecated by +grand-mammas, winked at by mothers, but enjoyed to the full by daughters. +But quidnuncs prophesy, however, that people will not marry as early as +of yore, for young people get to know one another too well by +unrestricted intercourse, and the halo with which each sex surrounds the +other is dispelled. Be this as it may, no Dutch girl wishes to go back to +the old days when she could go nowhere alone. + +Yet, however much men like to have women as companions in games, they are +not so willing to allow them much to say in matters which the masculine +mind considers its own province; for the fact is that most Dutchmen +consider women inferiors, and when there is a question of admittance into +literary or artistic circles and clubs, women's work has to be of an +undeniably high order. There are one or two ladies' clubs, but they do not +at present flourish, there being so few public platforms on which women +can meet, and so the 'social grade' determines women's relative position +by women's votes, and there is small chance of crossing the Rubicon then. +There is no doubt, however, that women in Holland are slowly winning their +way to greater independence of life. They are filling posts in public +offices; they are going to the universities; they are studying medicine +and qualifying as doctors; and no doubt they will in time compel men to +acknowledge their claims to live an independent life rather than a +dependent one. Besides, in Holland, as in other countries, the proportion +between the sexes is unequal, and so necessity will force open doors of +usefulness hitherto closed to women. + +The Dutchwoman dresses expensively in all the towns, and generally well. +The toilettes are mostly of a German model, which suits the build of the +Dutchwoman better than the fashions of Paris. Rarely, however, do women +dress in that simple style in vogue in English morning dress, and a Dutch +town or seaside resort is filled in the mornings with gay toilettes more +fitted for the Row or the Boulevard. Even when bicycling the majority do +not dress very simply. + +[Illustration: Dutch Fisher-Girls.] + +[Illustration: A Bridal Pair Driving Home.] + +Holland has always been noted for the variety and quaintness of its +provincial and even communal costumes, and these may all still be seen, +though they are dying out slowly. In some, and in fact many cases, a +modern bonnet is worn over a beautiful gold or silver headpiece, fringed +with lace, but ancient and modern do not in such cases harmonize. Of the +distinctly provincial costumes, that of Friesland is generally considered +the prettiest, but as illustrations are given of them all in a later +chapter, it must be left to the reader to decide the point for himself. +The fisherfolk more than any other retain their distinctive dress, +although even among them some of the children are habited according to +modern ideas, and certainly when the women are doomed to wear fourteen or +sixteen skirts, which have the effect of making them liable to pulmonary +complaints, it is surprising that modern fashions are not more generally +adopted. The plea for modernity in respect of Dutch national costumes is +considered rank heresy among artists, but the figures look better in a +picture and at a distance than in everyday life, added to which the custom +of cutting off or hiding the hair, which some of the head-dresses compel, +is not one to be encouraged; and it is a wonder that woman, who knows as a +rule her charms, has for so long consented to be deprived of one of the +chief ones. But in Holland, as in all countries where education is +spreading, cosmopolitanism in dress is increasing, and the picturesque +tends to give place to the convenient and in many cases the healthy. + +Marriage with all its preliminaries is woman's triumph, and in Holland she +makes the most of it. The manner of seeking a wife and proposing is no +doubt the same in the Netherlands as in other European countries, with the +exception of France; but once accepted, the happy man must resign himself +to the accustomed routine. First of all he exchanges rings, so that a man +who is engaged or married betrays the fact as well as a woman by a plain +gold ring worn on the third finger. A girl, therefore, has a better chance +against those who were 'deceivers ever' than in a country where no such +outward and visible sign exists. The engagement is announced by cards +being sent out, counter-signed by the parents on both sides, and a day is +fixed for receiving the congratulations. The betrothed are then considered +almost married. Engagements are, of course, frequently broken off, but +such a thing as an action for 'breach of promise' is impossible, and would +be considered most mercenary and mean. As a rule, engagements are not +long, and as soon as the wedding-day is agreed upon, the preceding +fortnight is filled with parties of various kinds, while there is another +great reception just before the wedding day, in which, as before, the +bride and bridegroom have to stand for hours receiving the congratulations +of their friends. Every now and then they will snatch a chance to sit +down, but another arrival brings them again to their feet, weary but +smiling. On the wedding morning the happy couple drive to the Town Hall; +for all marriages must first be celebrated by the civil authorities, and +so they appear before the Burgomaster, who says something appropriate, and +they make their vows and sign the papers, after which, if they desire it, +there is a service at the church which is called a 'Benediction,' at which +they are blessed, and have to listen to a long sermon, at the close of +which a Bible is given them. This sermon is not the least of the trying +experiences, for frequently many of the older members of the party are +reduced to tears by allusions to former members of the two families, and +all sorts of subjects alien to the particular service are introduced. At a +recent wedding known to me, the guests had to listen to a long address in +which the Transvaal War and the Paris Exhibition were commented upon. Not +only so, but no fewer than three collections are taken at the service, so +that people who desire to enter into the holy estate of matrimony must not +lack fortitude when they have made up their minds to it. + +But once married, a Dutch home is indeed 'Home, sweet home,' as is the +case more or less in all the northern countries, where the changeful +climate compels people to live a great deal within four walls. Dutch +fathers are kind, and the mothers are indulgent, and among the poorer +classes especially family affection is very great. Most beautiful and +touching instances might be abundantly quoted of family devotion, and a +society like that for the 'prevention of cruelty to children' would find +little to do in Holland. + + + + +Chapter V + +The Workman of the Towns + + + +The condition of the Dutch urban working classes is by no means an +enviable one. Granting that wages are much higher than half a century ago, +when bread cost fivepence-halfpenny the loaf as against three halfpence +to-day, and when clothes and furniture cost fifty per cent. more than now, +the average working-man cannot be otherwise described than as distinctly +poor when compared with his English colleague. Yet it would be misleading +to judge exclusively by the scale of wages, and against making comparisons +of the kind the reader should at once be warned. The fact is that there +are very wide divergences of condition amongst the working classes of +Holland. A carpenter or a blacksmith earning from £1 to £1 10s. in weekly +wages all the year round will rank, if sober and well-behaved, as a +comparatively well-to-do workman. On the other hand, a bricklayer or a +painter, whose work in winter is very uncertain, and who earns, maybe, a +bare £1 a week during the nine months of the year wherein he can find +work, is a poor workman at the best, and his condition is greatly to be +deplored. More pitiable still, however, is the case of working-class +families in some of the manufacturing towns, where wages are still lower, +and where an even tolerable standard of life cannot be maintained unless +mother and children take their place in the factory side by side with the +head of the household as regular wage-earners. + +For, as labour is cheap and families are numerous in Holland, as soon as +the boys and girls have reached the sacramental age of twelve, at which +Dutch law allows them to work twelve hours a day, they leave school, and +enter the factory and workshop. + +It is no joke for these children, who have to leave their little beds, +frequently under the tiles, at 5 or 6 a.m., or earlier, summer and winter, +to gulp down some hot coffee, or what is conveniently called so, to +swallow a huge piece of the well-known Dutch 'Roggebrood,' or rye-bread, +and then to hurry, in their wooden shoes, through the quiet streets of the +town to their place of work. + +Sometimes they have time to return home at 8 or 8.30 a.m. for a second +hurried 'breakfast,' which as often as not is their first, for many of +them start the day's work on an empty stomach. Those who cannot run home +and back in the half-hour usually allowed for the first 'Schaft,' or +meal-time, take their bread-and-butter with them in a cotton or linen bag, +and their milk-and-water or coffee in a tin, and so shift as well as they +can. Dinner-time, as a rule, finds the whole family united from about +twelve until one o'clock or half-past in the kitchen at home. This kitchen +is, of course, used for cooking, washing, dwelling, and sleeping purposes. +The walls are whitewashed, and the floor consists of flag-stones. Of +luxury there is none, of comfort little. Generally the fare of the day is +potatoes, with some vegetable, carrots, turnips, cabbage, or beans. A +piece of bacon, rarely some beef, is sometimes added; while mutton is +hardly ever eaten in Holland, unless by very poor people. Fish is too +expensive for most of them, except fried kippers or bloaters. If there is +time over, and the house has a little garden attached to it, the children +help by watering the vegetables growing there, should it be summer-time, +or by making themselves generally useful. But at 1 or 1.30 they have to be +back at the workshop, and until 7 p.m. the drudgery goes on again. On +Saturday evening the boy brings his sixpence, or whatever his trifling +wages may be, to his mother. Rent and the club-money for illness and +funeral expenses must be at hand when the collectors call either on Sunday +or Monday morning. As a rule, though the exceptions are numerous enough, +the father also brings his whole pay with him; but drink is the curse--a +decreasing curse, it may be, but still a curse--of many a workman's +family, and in such cases the inroads it makes in the domestic budget are +very serious. + +So the boys grow up, in a busy, monotonous life, until they are called +upon to subject themselves to compulsory military service. Before they +become recruits they have usually joined various societies--debating, +theatrical, social, political, or other. Arnold Toynbee has a good many +admirers and followers in Holland, who do yeoman's work after his spirit, +and bring bright, healthy pleasure into the lives of these youthful +toilers. Divines of all denominations, Protestant and Catholic, have also +their 'At homes' and their 'Congregations,' and innocent amusement is not +unseldom mixed with religious teaching at their meetings. In this way, +too, a helpful, restraining influence is exerted upon youth. And gradually +the boy becomes a young man, associating with other young men, and, like +his wealthier neighbours, discussing the world's affairs, dreaming of +drastic reforms, and thinking less and less of the dreary home, where +father and mother, grown old before their time, are little more than the +people with whom he boards, and who take the whole or part of his wages, +allowing him some modest pocket-money for himself. + +In the meantime his sisters have been living with some middle-class +family, starting as errand-girls, being afterwards promoted to the +important position of 'kindermeid' or children's maid, though all the time +sleeping out, which means that before and after having toiled a whole day +for strangers, they do part of the housework for their mothers at home. +After some time, however, they find employment as housemaids, or in other +domestic positions. If they have the good fortune to find considerate yet +strict and conscientious mistresses, the best time of their life now +begins; there is no exhaustion from work, yet good food, good lodging, and +kind treatment. Should they care to cultivate the fine art of cooking, +they get instruction in that line, and are in most cases allowed to work +independently, and even, when reliable and trustworthy, to do the buying +of vegetables, etc., by themselves in the market-places, which all Dutch +towns boast of, and in which the produce of the land is offered for sale +in abundance and appetizing freshness. All this tends to teach a +servant-girl how to use alike her eyes, hands, and brain, and to educate +her into a thrifty, industrious, and tidy workman's wife, who will know +how to make both ends meet, however short her resources may be. This is +one of the reasons why so many Dutch workmen's homes, notwithstanding the +low wages, have an appearance of snug prosperity--the women there have +learned how to make a little go a long way. + +And how about their future husbands? Have they, too, learned their trade? +Perhaps; if they are particularly strong, shrewd, industrious, and +persevering, though technical education ('ambachtsonderwys') is much a +thing of the future in Holland. + +In the general course of life a boy goes to a trade which offers him the +highest wages. If he can begin by earning eightpence a week, he will not +go elsewhere to earn sixpence if the wear and tear of shoes and clothes is +the same in both cases, although the sixpenny occupation may perhaps be +better suited to his tastes, ability, and general aptitude. To his mother +the extra two pence are a consideration; they may cover some weekly +contribution to a necessary fund. Running errands is his first work, until +accidentally some workman or some apprentice leaves the shop, in which +case he is moved up, and a new boy has the errands to do. But now he must +look out for himself; his master is not over-anxious to let him learn all +the ins and outs of the work, for as soon as his competitors hear that he +has a very clever boy in his shop, he is sure to lose that boy, who is +tempted away by the offer of better pay. Nor are the workmen greatly +inclined to impart their little secrets, to explain this thing and that, +and so help the young fellow on. Why should they? Nobody did it for them; +they got their qualifications by their own unaided exertions--let the boy +do the same. Moreover, the 'baas,' or chief, does not like them to 'waste +their time' in that manner, and the 'baas' is the dispenser of their +bread-and-butter; so the boy is, as a rule, regarded merely as a nuisance. + +There are workshops, first-class workshops, too, where no apprentices have +been admitted for dozens of years, simply because the employers do not see +their way to make an efficient agreement with the boys or their parents +which would prevent them from letting a competitor enjoy the results of +their technical instruction. One would not be astonished that in these +circumstances all over Holland the want of technical schools is badly +felt, and that agitation for their provision is active. Only some +twenty-four such schools exist at present; the oldest, that at Amsterdam, +dates from 1861, and the youngest, that of Nymegen, was established in +1900. Partly municipal schools, partly schools built by the private effort +of citizens, they all do their work well. It is only during the last few +years that the nation has begun to ask whether technical education ought +not to be taken up by the State. The Dutch like private enterprise in +everything, and are always inclined to prefer it to State or municipal +action; but they have come to recognize that technical schools may be good +schools, and may do good work on behalf of the much-needed improvement of +handicraft, even though not private ventures, and that so far this branch +of national education has not kept up with the times. + +The idea which will probably in the end gain the day, is that the +Technical Schools should be managed by the town councils and subsidized by +the State, who in return would receive the right of supervision and +inspection, and of laying down general rules for their curricula. For the +present, however, there is no law settling the question, and the +apprentices are the sufferers by the lack, since the employers shrink from +employing their means, time, and knowledge on behalf of unscrupulous +competitors. + +In general the life of an urban working-man is a constant struggle against +poverty and sickness. Children come plentifully, rather too much so for +the unelastic possibilities of their parents' wages. The young wife does +not get stronger by frequent confinements; and the fare is bound to get +less nourishing as the mouths round the domestic board increase--always +simple, it often becomes insufficient. The mother, working hard already, +has to work harder still and to do laundry work at home or go out as a +charwoman, in order to increase the modest income. In industrial centres +women frequently work in the factories as well, though the law does at +least protect them against too long hours and premature work after +confinement. + +Thanks to the Dutch thrift, burial funds and sickness funds come promptly +to the rescue when death lays his iron grip on the wasted form of the poor +town-bred babies, when illness saps the man's power to earn his usual +wages, and the family's income is for the time cut off. Of these benefit +funds there are about 450 in Holland, distributed amongst some 150 towns. +Half of them are burial funds, and half mixed burial and sickness funds; +their members number about two millions; yet, although they certainly do +much to prevent extreme poverty, they do it in a manner which in many +cases is little short of a scandal. Their legal status is rather +uncertain, and in consequence many managers do as they like, and make a +good thing for themselves out of their duty to the poor. Too often these +managers are supreme controllers of the funds, and the members have no +influence whatever. In many cases the only official the latter know is the +collector, who calls at their houses for the weekly contributions. This +official frequently resorts to questionable tricks for extorting money +from the poor helpless members, who simply and confidently pay what they +are told to pay--small sums, of course, a few cents or pence, it may be, +but still 'adding up' in the long run--and when sorrow and death enter +their humble dwellings they are easily imposed upon by cool scoundrels, +who trade on their disinclination to quarrel about money when there is a +corpse in the house. + +Another danger of the irregular condition of these funds lies in the fact +that outsiders may take out policies on the lives of certain families. A +few years ago the country was shocked by the alarming story of a woman who +had poisoned a series of persons merely to be able to get the funeral +expenses paid to herself, while many a wretched little baby has in this +manner been the horrible investment of heartless neighbours, who, knowing +the poor thing was dying, took out policies for its funeral. For medical +examination is not required for these beautifully managed associations. +Their premiums are, however, so high that this detail does not materially +affect their sound financial position; and this being the case, it cannot +be denied that the absence of such examinations considerably increases +their general utility for the labouring classes. + +[Illustration: A Dutch Street Scene.] + +The clubs for preventing financial loss by illness do require a medical +examination. They number in Holland nearly 700, distributed in over 300 +towns. Some allow a fixed sum of money during illness, others provide +doctor and medicines, others do both. But the same objections and +grievances which workmen entertain against burial funds apply likewise to +these latter clubs. The curious thing is that, instead of grumbling, the +workman does not make up his mind to mend matters by insisting on having a +share in the management of societies and funds to which he has contributed +so large a part of his earnings. As yet, however, the Dutch labouring +classes have not found the man who is able to organize them for this or +other purposes. They have able advocates, eloquent, passionate reformers, +straightforward, honest friends, but the work of these is more destructive +criticism than constructive organization. Where organization exists, it is +political, social, religious, but not industrial--local, but not +universal, and it often has the bitter suggestion of charity. On the other +hand, the poor fellows have so often been imposed upon that they feel very +little confidence in each other and in the wealthier classes who profess +deep interest in their woes and sorrows. There are no very large +industrial centres in Holland; the wages are so low that most workmen are +obliged to find supplementary incomes, either by doing overtime, or by +doing odd jobs after the regular day's work is over. Hence there is not +much time or energy left for the common cause. Some great employers, like +Mr. J.C. van Marken, of Delft, and Messrs. Stork Brothers, of Hengeloo, +have organizations of their own, by which important ameliorations are +obtained; but smaller employers hear the labour leaders constantly +deprecating such efforts and preaching the blessings of Social Democracy +as the true panacea, so they do not see why they should put themselves to +any inconvenience or expense for the sake of earning abuse and +ingratitude. + +Moreover, many of these employers adhere to the obsolete maxim of the +Manchester economists, that labour is merely a sort of merchandise, of +which the workman keeps a certain stock-in-trade, and that the +capitalist's simple task, as a man of business, is to buy that labour as +cheaply as possible, and that he has done with the seller as soon as his +stock-in-trade is exhausted. Happily, a good many others understand now +that in the long run this ridiculous theory is quite as bad for the State +as killing was for the fowl which laid the golden eggs. + +At all events, the feelings of the workman for his 'patroon,' as the old +name still in use calls the employer, are none of the kindest. Sweating is +a much less common occurrence in Holland than it was some twenty years +ago; but while it would be mere demagogic clap-trap to speak of the +remorseless exhaustion of labour by capital, there is nevertheless room +enough for the cultivation of greater amenity between the two. And so it +will remain for some time to come. Social legislation may do a great deal +in the course of time, but it cannot do everything, and at best it must +follow the awakening of the popular conscience. Hence progress must be +made step by step, for nothing is so menacing to the stability of the +social fabric as sudden changes, and a wise statesman prefers to let every +one of his acts do its own work, and produce its own consequences, before +he risks the next move. The disintegration of social life is much worse +than social misery, for disintegration makes misery universal, and throws +innumerable obstacles in the way towards restoration. + +And, however much the Dutch understand the workman's feelings and +position, however much they all long to see the latter improved, they also +have learned enough of social and political history to know that for the +community in general the only wise and safe principle of action is +progress by degrees--evolution, not revolution. + + + + +Chapter VI + +The Canals and Their Population + + + +When Drusus a few years before the commencement of our era excavated the +Yssel canal, and thus gave a new arm to the Rhine, he began a process of +canalization in the Frisian and Batavian provinces which has been going on +more or less ever since. To the foreigner Holland or the Northern +Netherlands must always appear a land of dykes and canals, the one not +more important for protection than the other as an artery of +communication; spreading commerce and supporting national life. Napoleon, +with _naïve_ comprehensiveness, called Holland the alluvion of French +rivers. Dutch patriots declare with legitimate pride, 'God gave us the +sea, but we made the shore,' and no one who has seen the artificial +barrier that guards the mainland from the Hook to the Texel will disparage +their achievement or scoff at their pretensions. + +[Illustration: A Sea-Going Canal.] + +The sea-dyke saves Holland from the Northern Ocean, sombre and grey in its +most genial mood, menacing and stormy for the long winter of our northern +hemisphere; but it is to the inland dykes that protect the low-lying +polders that Holland owes her prosperity and the sources of wealth which +have made her inhabitants a nation. The original character of the country, +a marshland intersected by the numerous channels of the Rhine and the +Meuse, rendered it imperative that the System of dykes should be +accompanied by a brother system of canals. The over-abundant waters had +not merely to be arrested, they had to be confined and led off into +prepared channels. In this manner also they were made to serve the +purposes of man. High-roads across swamps were either impracticable or too +costly; but canals furnished a sure and convenient means of transport and +communication. + +At the same time they did not imperil the security of the country. Roads +on causeways or reared on sunken piles would have opened the door to an +invader, but the canals provided an additional weapon of defence, for the +opening of the dykes sufficed to turn the country again into its primeval +state of marshland. The occasion on which this measure alone saved +Holland during the French invasion of 1670 is a well-known passage in +history, and the hopes of the Dutch in resisting the attack of any +powerful aggressor would centre in the same measure of defence, which is +the submerging of the country, practically speaking, under the waters of +the canals and rivers. There exists a popular belief that there is at +Amsterdam one master key, a turn of which would let loose the waters over +the land, but whether it is well founded or not no one except a very few +officials can say. + +Pending any unfortunate necessity for breaking through the dykes and +letting loose the waters, it may be observed in passing that the effectual +maintenance of the dykes is a constant anxiety, and entails strenuous +exertions. They stand in need of repeated repairing, and it is computed +that they are completely reconstructed in the course of every four or five +years. A sum of nearly a million sterling is spent annually on the work. +A large and specially trained staff of engineers are in unceasing harness, +a numerous band of dyke watchers are constantly on the look-out, and when +they raise the shout, 'Come out! come out!' not a man, woman, or child +must hold back from the summons to strengthen the weak points through +which threatens to pass the flood that would overwhelm the land. It is a +constant struggle with nature, in which the victory rests with man. As the +dyke is the bulwark of Dutch prosperity in peace, it might be converted +into the ally of despairing patriotism in war. + +There are marked differences among the canals. The two largest and best +known canals, the North Canal and the North Sea Canal, are passages to the +ocean for the largest ships, and specially intended to benefit the trade +of Amsterdam. The North Canal was made in 1819-25, soon after the +restoration of the House of Orange, with an outlet at Helder, near the +mouth of the Texel. It has a breadth of between 40 and 50 yards, a length +of 50 miles, and a depth of 20 feet, which was then thought ample. After +forty years' use this canal was found inadequate from every point of view. +It was accordingly decided to construct a new canal direct from Amsterdam +to Ymuiden across the narrowest strip of Holland. Although the Y was +utilized, the labour on this canal was immense, and occupied a period of +eleven years, being finally thrown open to navigation in 1877. In length +it is under 16 miles, but its average breadth is 100 yards, and the depth +varies from 23 to 27 feet. Consequently the largest ships from America or +the Indies can reach the wharves of Amsterdam as easily as if it were a +port on the sea-coast. Leaving aside the sea-passages that have been +canalized among the islands of Zeeland, the remaining canals are inland +waterways serving as the principal highways of the country, giving one +part of the country access to the other, and especially serving as +approaches or lanes to the great rivers Meuse and Rhine. + +[Illustration: A Village in Dyke-Land.] + +The interesting canal population of Holland is, of course, to be found on +these canals, which are traversed in unceasing flow from year's end to +year's end by the tjalks, or national barges. On these boats, which more +resemble a lugger than a barge, they navigate not only the canals of their +own country, but the Rhine up to Coblentz, and even above that place. It +has been computed that Germany imports half its food-supply through +Rotterdam, and much of this is borne to its destined markets on tjalks. +The William Canal connects Bois le Duc with Limburg, and saves the great +bend of the Meuse. The Yssel connects with the Drenthe the Orange and the +Reitdiep canals, which convey to the Rhine the produce of remote Groningen +and Friesland. The Rhine represents the destination of the bulk of the +permanent canal population of Holland, whose floating habitations furnish +one of the most interesting sights to be met with on the waters of the +country, but which represent one of the secret phases of the people's +life, into which few tourists or visitors have the opportunity of peering. + +The canal population of Holland is fixed on a moderate computation at +50,000 persons. For this number of persons the barge represents the only +fixed home, and the year passes in ceaseless movement across the inland +waters of the country or on the great German river, excepting for the +brief interval when the canals are frozen over in the depth of winter. +Even during these periods of enforced idleness the barge does not the less +continue to be their home, for the simple reason that the canal population +possesses no other. Their whole life for generations, the bringing up and +education of the children, the years of toil from youth to old age, are +passed on these barges, which, varying in size and still more in +condition, are as closely identified with the name of home in their +owners' minds as if they were built of brick and stone on firm land. The +ambition of the youth who tugs at the rope is to possess a tjalk of his +own, and he diligently looks out for the maiden whose dowry will assist +him, with his own savings, to make the purchase. This he may hope to +procure for five or six hundred gulden, if he will be content with one of +limited dimensions, and somewhat marked by time. When a family comes he +will want a larger and more commodious boat, but by that time the profits +which his first tjalk will have earned as a carrier will go far towards +buying a second. + +The tjalks are all built in the same form and from a common model. They +carry a mast and sail, although for the greater part of their journeys +they are towed by their owners, or rather by the familles, wife and +children, of the owner. Mynheer, the barge-owner, is usually to be seen +smoking his pipe and taking his ease near the tiller. Formerly it was +otherwise, for the towing was done by dogs, under the personal direction +of, and no doubt with some assistance from, the barge-owner himself, while +his wife and children remained on the poop of the boat. But five and +twenty years ago the authorities of Amsterdam issued a law prohibiting the +employment of dogs in the work of towing, and gradually this law was +generally adopted and enforced throughout the country. When dogs were +emancipated from their servitude on the canal-bank the family had to take +their places, and by degrees the ease-loving head of the family has grown +content to look on and think towing a labour reflecting on his dignity. +There is nothing unusual in the sight of a barge being towed by an old +woman, her daughter or daughter-in-law, and several children. As they +strain at the rope the work seems extremely hard, but the people +themselves appear unconscious of any hardship or inequality in the +distribution of labour. + +The barge is in the first place a conveyance. The whole of the front part +of the boat represents the hold in which the cargo is placed. This is +generally represented by cheese or vegetables, timber, peat, and stones, +the last-named being a return-cargo for the repairing of dykes and the +construction of quays. But in the second place it is a house or place of +residence, and the stern of the boat is given up for that purpose. The +living room is the raised deck or poop, on which is not only the tiller, +but the cooking-stove. The sleeping-room forms the one covered-in +apartment. It is easily divisible into two by a temporary or removable +partition, and it always possesses the two little windows, one on each +side of the tiller, which give it so great a resemblance to a doll's +house. This resemblance is certainly heightened by the custom of colouring +the barges, which are always painted a bright colour, red or green being +perhaps the most usual. As ornament there is usually a good deal of +brasswork; the handle of the tiller is generally bordered with the metal, +and the owner seems to take pride in nailing brass along the bulwarks of +his boat where it is not wanted and is even little seen. It has been +suggested that the polishing of these brass plates or bars provides a +pleasant change from the dull routine work of towing. The brightness of +the paint and the brasswork constitutes the pride of the barge-owners, and +supplies a standard of comparison among them. + +To increase the homelike aspect of this water residence, birds and plants, +always in more or less quantity and variety, are to be seen either in the +windows or on the deck. The poorest bargee, which generally means the +youngest or the beginner, will have one song-bird in a gilt cage, and as +he accumulates money in his really profitable calling, he will add to his +collection of birds a row of flowers and bulbs in pots. Thus he says, with +a glow of satisfaction, 'I possess an aviary and a garden, like my cousin +Hans on the polders, although my home is on the moving waters.' To +strengthen the illusion what does he do but fix a toy gate on the poop +above his sleeping-cabin, and thus cherishes the belief that he is on his +own domain? In the evening, when the towing is over for the day, the women +bring out their sewing, the children play round the tiller, and the good +man smokes his immense pipe with complete and indolent satisfaction. And +so day passes on to day without a variation, and life runs by without a +ripple or a murmur for the canal population, while the mere landsmen look +on with envy at what seems to them an idyllic existence, and even ladies +of breeding and high station have been known to declare that they would +gladly change places with the mistress of the bargee's quarter-deck. That +was no doubt in the days before women had to take on themselves the brunt +and burden of the towing. + +[Illustration: A Canal in Dordrecht.] + +But even for the canal population of Holland the halcyon days are past. +The spirit of reform is in the air. It may not be long before the tjalk, +with its doll's house and its residential population, will finally +disappear, and leave the canals of Holland as dull and colourless as the +inland waters of any other country. The reform seems likely to come about +in this way. There are at least 30,000 children resident on the +canal-boats. How are they to be properly educated and brought up as useful +citizens if they are to continue to lead a migratory existence which never +leaves them for a fortnight in a single place? Formerly, nobody cared +whether they were educated or not. They were left undisturbed to live +their lives in their own simple and primitive way. As De Amicis wrote: +'The children are born and grow up on the water; the boat carries all +their small belongings, their domestic affections, their past, their +present, and their future. They labour and save, and after many years they +buy a larger boat, selling the old one to a family poorer than themselves, +or handing it over to the eldest son, who in his turn instals his wife, +taken from another boat, and seen for the first time in a chance meeting +on the canal.' But now the State has begun to interest itself in the +children, and its intervention threatens to put a rude and summary ending +to the system of heredity and exclusion which has kept the canal +population a class apart. + +For some time past schools have been in existence, especially devoted to +the education of the barge children, and whenever the barges are moored in +harbour the children are expected to attend them. But these periods of +halting are very brief and uncertain. The stationary barge earns no money, +and it may even be that the parents evade the law as far as possible for +fear of seeing their children acquire a distaste for the life in which +they have been brought up. But the Government, having taken one step in +the matter, cannot afford to go back, and it must also have definite +satisfactory results to show for its legislation. The tentative measure of +temporary schools along the canals has not leavened the illiteracy of the +canal population. It will, therefore, become necessary at no great +interval to devise some fresh and drastic regulations. Compulsory +attendance at school for nine months of the year, which now applies to +children in normal circumstances, may not be the lot of the barge children +for some time, but when it comes, as it inevitably will one day, it will +of necessity mean the break-up of the home life on the canals, for the +children will have to be left behind during the almost unceasing voyages, +and a place of residence will have to be provided on land. Where the +children are the women will soon be, and gradually this place of residence +will become the home, displacing the barge in the associations and +affections of the canal population. Whether these changes will benefit +those most affected by them cannot be guaranteed, but at least they will +put an end to the separate existence of the canal population. + +When this result has been compassed by the inexorable progress of +education and knowledge, the gradual disappearance of the canal +population, the class of hereditary bargees as we have known it, and as it +still exists, may be expected to follow at no remote date, for it was +based on the enforcement of the family principle, and on the devotion of a +whole community, from its youngest to its eldest member, to its +maintenance. As it is the tow-barge is something of an anachronism, but +the withdrawal of the youthful recruits, whose up-bringing alone rendered +it possible, will entail its inevitable extinction. The decay and break-up +of the guild of tjalk owners will be hastened by the introduction of steam +and electricity as means of locomotion. The canals will lose the +bright-coloured barges which are to-day their most striking feature, and +the population that has so long floated over their surface. Life will be +duller and more monotonous. The canal population, so long distinct, will +be merged in the rest of the community. The tug will displace the +tow-rope. The pullers will be housed on land, mastering the three R's +instead of learning to strain at the girth. + +But there is still a brief period left during which the canal population +may be seen in its original primitive existence, devoted to the barge, +which is the only home known to six or seven thousand families, and +traversing the water roads of their country in unceasing and endless +progression. There is nothing like it in any other country of Europe. +Venice has its water routes, but the gondola is not a domicile. There was +a canal population in England, but, like much else in our modern life, it +has lost whatever picturesqueness it might once have claimed. For a true +canal population, bright and happy, living the same life from father to +son and generation to generation, we must go to Holland. There these +inland navigators ply their vocation with only one ambition, and that to +become the owner of a tjalk, and to rear thereon a family of towers. It is +said that the life is one that requires the consumption of unlimited +quantitics of 'schnapps,' and the humidity of the atmosphere is undoubted. +But even free libations do not diminish the prosperity of the bargees. +They are a thriving race, and it must also be noted to their credit that +they are well behaved, and not given to quarrels. Collisions on the +thickly-covered canals are rare; malicious collisions are unknown. The +barges pass and repass without hindrance, the tow-ropes never get +entangled, there is mutual forbearance, and the skill derived from long +experience in slipping the ropes uncler the barges does the rest. The +conditions under which the canal population exists and thrives are a +survival of an older order of things. When they disappear another of the +few picturesque heritages of mediæval life will have been removecl from +the hurly-burly and fierce competition of modern existence. + + + + +Chapter VII + +A Dutch Village + + + +Villages in Holland are towns in miniature, for the simple reason that +when you have a marsh to live in you drain a part of it and build on that +part, and so build in streets, and do not form a village as in England, by +houses dotted here and there round a green or down leafy lanes. The +village green in Holland is the village street or square in front of the +church or 'Raadhuis.' Here the children play, for you cannot play in a +swamp, and that is what polder land is seven months out of the year, and +so we find that a Dutch village in most parts of the country is a town in +miniature. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +Thirty years ago the 'Raadhuis' would have been the village inn, barber's +shop, and the principal hotel all rolled into one, and the innkeeper, as a +natural consequence, the wealthiest man in the neighbourhood. The farmers +would have sat at the 'Raad,' i.e. the Village Council, with their caps +over their eyes, long Gouda pipes in their mouths, and a 'Glaasje Klare' +('Schiedam') under their chairs which they would have steadily sipped at +intervals, puffing at their pipes during the whole sitting. Their wooden +shoes ('Klompen'), scrubbed for the occasion to a brilliant white with the +help of a good layer of whitening, might have been seen in a row standing +on the door-mat, for no well-educated farmer would ever have dreamed of +entering a room with shoes on his feet, and he would have taken his +'pruim,' or quid of tobacco, which every farmer chews even when smoking, +out of his mouth and laid it on the window-sill, the usual receptacle for +such things, and there it would lie in its own little circle of brown +fluid, to be replaced either in his own or his neighbour's mouth after the +meeting was over. Nowadays a farmer goes to the 'Raad' dressed in a suit +of black clothes and with his feet encased in leather boots. He never +wears 'Klompen' save when at work in the field or on the farm. He also +talks of his 'Gemeente,' for all Holland is portioned off into +'Gemeenten,' and a village is such in as good a sense as large towns like +The Hague and Amsterdam, and better if anything, for the taxes there are +not so high. Each 'Gemeente' is separately governed by a Burgomaster and +'Leden van den Raad', which is nothing more nor less than a County +Council, presided over by a prominent man nominated by the sovereign, and +not elected by the members, of which some are called 'Wethouders,' and +are, like the other members, elected by the residents of the district. +These Wethouders, with the Burgomaster, form the 'Dagelyksch Bestuur.' All +ordinary matters concerning the 'Gemeente,' such as giving information to +the Minister of War about the men who have signed for the militia, or +about any person living in their 'Gemeenten,' are regulated by the +'Dagelyksch Bestuur,' though matters of import are brought before the +'Raad.' Next in importance to the Burgomaster come the 'Gemeenteontvanger,' +who receives all the taxes, and the 'Notary, who is the busiest man in the +village, although the doctor and clergyman or priest have a large share in +the work of contributing to the welfare of the villagers. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +A village clergyman is an important person, for he is held in high honour +by his parishioners, and his larder is always well stocked free of cost. +His income also is relatively larger than that of a town pastor, for +besides his fixed salary he reaps a nice little revenue from the pastures +belonging to the 'Pastorie,' which he lets out to farmers. The +schoolmaster, on the contrary, is treated with but little consideration, +and he often feels decidedly like a fish out of water, for though +belonging by birth to the labouring class, he is too well educated to +associate with his former companions and yet not sufficiently refined to +move in the village 'society,' besides which he would not be able to +return hospitality, as his salary only amounts to from £40 to £60 a year, +and nowhere is the principle of reciprocity more observed than in Dutch +hospitality in certain classes. In very small villages many offices are +combined in one person, and so we find a prominent inhabitant blacksmith, +painter, and carpenter, while the baker's shop is a kind of universal +provider for the villagers' simple wants. The butcher is the only person +who is the man of one occupation, though he, too, goes round to the +neighbouring farms to help in the slaughtering of the cattle, and +sometimes lends a hand in the salting and storing of the meat. + +The farmers live just outside the village, and only come there when they +go to the 'Raad' or on Saturday evenings when the week's work is done. +They then visit the barber before meeting at the _café_ for their weekly +game of billiards. Every resident of the village also betakes himself to +his 'club' or 'Societeit' on Saturday night, and just as the 'Mindere +man,' i.e. farmers and labourers, have their games and discuss their +farms, their cattle, and the price of hay or corn, so, too, the +'Notabelen' discuss every subject under the sun, not forgetting their dear +neighbours. + +On Sunday mornings the whole 'Gemeente' goes to church, from the +Burgomaster to the poorest farm-labourer, and all are dressed in their +best. The men of the village have put aside their working-clothes, and +are attired in blue or black cloth suits with white shirt fronts and +coloured ties. The women have donned black dresses, caps and shawls, and +carry their scent-bottles, peppermints, and 'Gezangboek' (hymn-book) with +large golden clasps. The 'Stovenzetster,' a woman who acts as verger, +shows the good people to their seats and provides the women, if the +weather is cold, with 'warme stoven' (hot stoves), to keep their feet +comfortable. These little 'stoves' contain little three-cornered green or +brown pots ('testen'), in which pieces of glowing peat are put, and +sometimes when the peat is not quite red-hot it smokes terribly, and +gives a most unpleasant odour to the building. The women survive it, +however, by resorting to their _eau de Cologne,_ which they sprinkle upon +their handkerchiefs, and keep passing to their neighbours during the +whole service. + +The village schoolmaster has a special office to perform in the Sunday +service. It is he who reads a 'chapter' to them before the entrance of the +clergyman, who only comes when service has begun. Then the sermon, which +is the chief part of the service in Dutch churches, begins. This sermon is +very long, and the congregation sleep through the first part very +peacefully, but the rest is not for long, for when the domine has spoken +for about three-quarters of an hour he calls upon his congregation to sing +a verse of some particular psalm. The schoolmaster starts the singing, +which goes very slowly, each note lasting at least four beats, so that the +tune is completely lost. However, as a rule, every one sings a different +tune, and nobody knows which is the right one. Two collections are taken +during the service, one for the poor and one for the church, the +schoolmaster and the elders ('Ouderlingen') of the church going round with +little bags tied to very long sticks, which they pass ail along a row in +which to receive the 'gifts.' Generally one cent is given by each of the +congregation. + +[Illustration: Approach to an Overyssel Farm.] + +After church is over the Sunday lunch takes the next place in the day's +routine. The table is always more carefully set out on Sundays than on +other days, and to the usual fare of bread, butter, and cheese are added +smoked beef and cake, while the coffee-pot stands on the 'Komfoortje' (a +square porcelain stand with a little light inside to keep the pot hot), +and the sugar-pot contains white sugar as a Sunday treat, for sugar is +very dear in Holland, and cannot form an article of daily consumption. +Servants always make an agreement about sugar; hence on week-days a supply +of 'brokken' (sweets something like toffee, and costing about a penny for +three English ounces) is kept in the sugar-pot, and when the people drink +coffee they put a 'brok' in their mouths and suck it. Should their cup be +emptied before the 'brok' is finished, they replace it on their saucers +till a second cup is poured out for them, and if they do not take a second +cup, then their 'brok' is put back into the sugar-pot again. + +After lunch the men now find their way to the 'Societeit,' or in summer to +the village street, where they walk about in their shirt-sleeves and +smoke. The children go to their Sunday schools, or, if they are Roman +Catholics, to their 'Leering,' which is a Bible-class held for them in +church, and in villages where there is no Sunday school they, too, +leisurely perambulate the village dressed in their best clothes, even if +it is a wet day. The women first clear away the lunch utensils, and then +have a little undisturbed chat with their neighbours on the doorstep, or +go to see their friends in town. At four o'clock the whole family +assembles again in the parlour for their 'Borreltje,' either consisting of +'Boerenjongens' (brandied raisins) or 'Brandewyn met suiker' (brandy with +sugar), which they drink out of their best glasses. There is no church in +the evening, so the villagers retire early to bed, so as to be in good +trim for the week's hard work again. + +From this sketch it will be judged that life in a village is very dull. +There is nothing to break the monotony of the days, and one season passes +by in precisely the same way as another. Days and seasons, in fact, make +no difference whatever in the villager's existence. There is no pack of +hounds to fire the sporting instinct; no excitement of elections; no +distraction of any kind. All is quiet, regular, and uneventful, and when +their days are over they sleep with their fathers naturally enough, for +only too often have they been half asleep all their lives. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +The Peasant at Home + + + +To describe an 'average' Dutch peasant would be to say very little of him. +There is far too much difference in this class of people all over the +Netherlands to allow of any generalization. In Zeeland we meet two +distinct types; one very much akin to the Spanish race, having a +Spaniard's dark hair, dark eyes, and sallow complexion, and often very +good-looking. The other type is entirely different, fair-haired, +light-eyed, and of no particular beauty. In Limburg, the most southern +province of the Netherlands, one finds a mixture of the German, Flemish, +and Dutch types, and the language there is a dialect formed from all those +three tongues, while in the most northern province, Groningen, the people +speak a dialect resembling that spoken in Overyssel and Gelderland, and +the Frisians, their neighbours, would feel themselves quite strangers in +the last named provinces, and would not even be able to make themselves +understood when speaking in their usual language. In the Betuwe the +dialect spoken differs from that in the Veluwe, but no distinct line can +be drawn to determine where one dialect begins and the other ends. + +In their mode of dressing, too, there is a great difference between the +people of one province and of another, and in Zeeland every island has +its own special costume. Just as they differ in dress, so they also differ +in appearance and education, wealth, and civilization. + +A North Holland farmer is well-to-do and independent. For centuries he has +battled and disputed every inch of his land with the sea, and it has been +pointed out by observant people that the effects of the strife are still +marked in his harsh and rugged features and independent ways. It is well +known that his cattle are the best in all the country, for the pastures, +by reason of the damp polder ground, are very rich, and yield year out +year in an abundant crop of grass and hay, the cows he keeps for milking +purposes giving from 20 to 30 litres, or from 45 to 70 pints, of milk a +day, which is a very high yield. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Costume.] + +The 'Vrye Fries'--for the Frisian congratulates himself on never having +been conquered, but always having in days of war and tribal feud made his +own terms more or less with an adversary--stands higher in culture and +intellect, and is also more enterprising, than the great majority of the +Dutch peasants. He welcomes many inventions, and is willing to risk +something in trying them, and so one can see many kinds of machinery in +use on the Frisian farms. He also works with the most modern and approved +artificial manures. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Costumes.] + +The Groningen and Overyssel boer[Footnote: Peasant and farmer as a rule +are convertible terms. A farmer is a peasant, although a peasant is not +always the owner of a farm. In point of education the farmer himself does +not differ from the average labourer on his farm, and both alike are +classed as 'boeren.'] follows his example unless the farms are so small as +to make large machinery impracticable, when he goes along the path marked +out by his great-grandfather, and finds safety, if not novelty, in so +doing. All over the north of Holland the cows are good, and there is milk, +butter, and cheese in abundance at the markets, especially the two +last-named articles, as nearly all the milk is sent to the +'Zuivelfabrieken,' as butter and cheese factories are called. + +Travelling from north to south, and so reaching the Wilhelminapolder in +Zeeland, we come across the steam-plough, but that is the only place in +the Netherlands where it is in use. The further south one goes--Zeeland +excepted--the lower becomes the standard of life, and the peasants seem to +care for little else than their fields and cattle, while the people of +Noord Brabant are the poorest and dirtiest of them all. The produce of the +soil varies according to the ground cultivated. In Utrecht and Brabant +many thousand acres are devoted to tobacco, while Overyssel and +Gelderland, as a rule, grow rye, oats, buckwheat, and flax. In Drenthe the +greater part of the province yields peat, and North and South Holland are +famous all over the world for their rich pastures. Cabbages and +cauliflowers are also extensively cultivated for exportation, and in +Friesland they have begun to cultivate them also. From Wateringen to the +Hoek van Holland one sees smiling orchards, while from Leyden to Haarlem +blossom the world-famed bulb fields, too well known to need special +description. + +The farm-work is done in the spring and summer. The women invariably help +with the lighter work of weeding in the fields, while in harvest-time +they work as hard as the men, and very picturesque they look in their +broad black hats and white linen skirts. But when the harvest is gathered +in, and the pigs have been converted into hams and sausages, the man's +chief labour is over, although the manuring of the land and the threshing +of the corn have to be attended to. Still, he has his evenings wherein to +sit by the fireside and smoke, presumably gathering energies the while +for the coming spring. A woman's work, however, is never ended, for +while the man smokes she spins the flax grown on her own ground and the +wool from the sheep of the farm. In some parts of Overyssel it is still +the custom for the women to meet together at some neighbouring friend's +house to spin, and during these sociable evenings they partake of the +'spinning-meal,' which consists of currant bread and coffee, and in turn +sing and tell stories. + +A weaver always visits every house once a year with his own loom to assist +at these gatherings, and when the linen is woven it is rolled up and tied +with coloured ribbons, decorated with artificial flowers, and kept in the +linen-press--the pride of every Dutch housewife--and when a daughter of +the house marries several rolls of this linen are added to her trousseau. +The wealth of a farm is, in fact, calculated by the number of rolls. These +are handed down for generations, and often contain linen more than a +hundred years old. The wool, when woven, is made up into thick petticoats, +of which every well-dressed peasant woman wears six or seven. + +The education of the farmer is not very liberal. A child generally goes to +school until he is twelve years of age, and during that time he has learnt +reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a rule, however, he does not attend +regularly, as his help is so often wanted at home, especially at +harvest-time, and although the new education law--the 'Leerplichtwet' of +July 7th, 1901--has made school attendance compulsory, yet a child is +allowed to remain at home when wanted if he has attended school regularly +during the six previous months. The interest of the parent and the +inclination of the child are thus combined to the retarding of the +intellectual progress of the boer. And yet, although they are so badly +taught, the peasantry have a very good opinion about things in general, +and if you assist them in their work and show them that you can use your +hands as well as they can they have great respect for you, and will listen +to anything you like to tell them about or read to them. The women +especially have very pronounced views of their own, a trait not confined +to Netherland womenfolk. To go about among them is at present the best way +of educating them, and when you have once won their regard they will go +through fire and water for you; but they despise any one who 'does +nothing,' for, like most manual workers, they do not understand that +brain-work is as hard as manual labour. + +[Illustration: An Itinerant Linen-Weaver.] + +[Illustration: Farmhouse Interior, showing the Linen-Press.] + +The farmhouses in most parts of the country are neat and more or less of a +pattern, although they differ in minor details. Outside their appearance +is very quaint and picturesque, and the roofs are either thatched or +tiled. In Groningen they now hardly resemble farms. They are, indeed, +little country seats, and the interior is decidedly modern. Some of the +very poorest-looking houses are to be found in Overyssel and Drenthe. +These are built of clay, and stand halfway in the ground. The roofs are +covered with sods taken from the 'Drentsche Veengronden.' Some of these +'Plaggewoningen,' as they are called, are not more than twelve feet square +and eight feet high. The ceiling of the room inside the dwelling is only +four or five feet high, and above this the stores of hay and corn are +kept. A hole in the roof serves as chimney, and in the floor--which is +nothing but hard clay--a hole is dug to serve as fireplace. On the larger +farms in Overyssel the main building is generally divided into two parts. +The back part is for the cattle, which stand in rows on either side, with +a large open space in the centre, called the 'deel,' where the carts are +kept. A large arched double door leads into it, while the thatched roof +comes down low on either side. Leading from the 'deel,' or stable, into +the living-room is a small door, with a window to enable the inhabitants +to see what is going on among their friends of the fields. Against the +wall which forms the partition between the stable and living-room is the +fireplace. You will sometimes find an open fire on the floor, though in +the more modern houses stoves are used. The chimney-piece is in the shape +of a large overhanging hood with a flounce of light print 'Schoorsteenval' +round it, and a row of plates on a shelf above serves for ornament. The +much-prized linen-press, which has already been mentioned, is usually +placed at right-angles to the outer door, so as to form a kind of passage. + +In some farmhouses there is no partition at all between the stable and +living-room, but the cattle are kept at the back, and the people live at +the other end, near the window. This is called a 'loshuis,' or open house, +and very picturesque it is to look at. The smell of the cows is considered +to be extremely healthy, and consumptive patients have been completely +cured (so it is popularly believed) by sleeping in the cowsheds. Besides +being healthy, this primitive system is also cheap, for the cows give out +so much warmth that it is almost unnecessary to have fires except for +cooking purposes. Some of these open houses have no chimneys, the smoke +finding its way out between the tiles of the roof or through the door. +There is a hayloft above the part occupied by the cattle, while over the +heads of the family hams, bacon, and sausages of every description hang +from the rafters. Smoke is very useful in curing these stores, and this +may account for the absence of a chimney. + +In Brabant, however, where there are chimneys, the farmer hangs his stores +in them, so that when looking up through the wide opening to the sky +beyond numerous tiers of dangling sausages meet one's admiring gaze. The +living-room is a living-room in every sense of the word, for the family +work, eat, and sleep there. Sometimes a larger farm has a wing attached to +it containing bedrooms, but this is not general, and even so most of the +family sleep in the living-room. The beds are placed round the room. They +are, in fact, cupboards, and by day are fixed in the wall. Green curtains +are hung before the beds, and are always drawn at night, completely +concealing the beds from view. Some have doors like ordinary cupboards, +but this is more general in North Holland. In Hindeloopen (Friesland) one +or two beds in the living-room are kept as 'pronk-bedden' (show beds). +They are decked out with the finest linen the farmers' wives possess, the +sheets gorgeous with long laces, and the pillow-slips beautifully +embroidered. These beds are never slept in, and the curtains are kept open +all day long, so that any one who enters the room can at once admire their +beauty. Some of the more wealthy have a 'best bedroom,' which they keep +carefully locked. They dust it every day, and clean it out once a week, +but never use it. In South Holland it is more customary to have a +'pronk-kamer' ('show-room'), which is not a bedroom, but a kind of +parlour. This room is never entered by the inhabitants of the house except +at a birth or a death, and in the latter case they put the corpse there. +In Hindeloopen the dead are put in the church to await burial, and there +they rest on biers specially made for the occasion. A different bier is +used to represent the trade or profession or sex of the dead person. These +biers are always most elaborately painted (as, indeed, are all things in +Hindeloopen), with scenes out of the life of a doctor, a clergyman, a +tradesman, or a peasant. + +[Illustration: Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +The costume worn by the peasantry is always quaint, and this is +especially so in Hindeloopen. The waistband of a peasant woman takes +alone an hour and a half to arrange. It consists of a very long, thin, +black band, which is wound round and round the waist till it forms one +broad sash. The dress itself includes a black skirt and a check bodice, a +white apron, and a dark necktie; from the waistband hangs at the +right-hand side a long silver chain, to which are attached a silver +pincushion, a pair of scissors, and a needle-case; then on the left-hand +side hangs a reticule with silver clasps; and a long mantle, falling +loose from the shoulders to the hem of the skirt, is worn over all +out-of-doors. This latter is of some light-coloured material, with a +pattern of red flowers and green leaves. On the head three caps are worn, +one over the other, and for outdoor wear a large, tall bonnet is donned +by way of completing the costume. + +[Illustration: A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable.] + +All the Frisian costumes are beautiful. Many ladies of that province still +wear the national dress, and a very becoming one it is. + +In Overyssel the women all over the province dress alike and in the same +way their ancestors did. In the house the dress is an ordinary full +petticoat of some cotton stuff, generally blue, and a tight-fitting and +perfectly plain bodice with short sleeves, a red handkerchief folded +across the chest, and a close-fitting white cap, with a little flounce +round the neck. When they go to market with their milk and eggs they are +very smart.[Footnote: Butter used to be one of the wares they took to +market, but now so many butter-factories have arisen, and also so much is +imported from Australia, that it is hardly worth their while to make it.] + +They then wear a fine black merino skirt, made very full, and the +inevitable petticoats, which make the skirt stand out like a crinoline. On +Sundays they wear the same costume as on market-days, and in winter they +are to be seen with large Indian shawls worn in a point down the back in +the old-fashioned way. When they go to communion, as they do four times a +year, the shawls are of black silk with long black fringes. The hair is +completely hidden by a close-fitting black cap, and some women cut off +their hair so as to give the head a perfectly round shape. Over the black +cap is worn a white one of real lace, called a 'knipmuts,' the pattern of +which shows to advantage over the black ground. A deep flounce of gauffred +real lace goes round the neck, while round the face there is a ruche or +frill, also very finely gauffred. A broad white brocaded ribbon is laid +twice round the cap, and fastened under the chin. Long gold earrings are +fastened to the cap on either side of the face, and the ears themselves +are hidden. The style of gauffering is still the same as is seen in the +muslin caps of so many Dutch pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, especially in those of Frans Hals. When in mourning, the women +wear a plain linen cap without any lace, and the men a black bow in their +caps. It is quite a work of art to make up a peasant woman's head-dress, +and several cap-makers are kept busy at it all day long. + +The clothes the men wear are not so elaborate. They used to be short +knickerbockers with silver clasps, but these have entirely gone out of +fashion, and they have been replaced by ordinary clothes of cloth or +corduroy. Both sexes wear wooden shoes, which the men often make +themselves. In the far-famed little island of Marken, the men are very +clever at this work, and they carve them beautifully. In some lonely +hamlets the unmarried women wear black caps with a thick ruche of ostrich +feathers or black fur round the face. The jewellery consists of garnet +necklaces closed round the neck and fastened by golden clasps. The garnets +are always very large, and this fashion is general ail over the +Netherlands. In Stompwyk, a little village between The Hague and Leyden, a +peasant family possesses garnets as large as a swallow's egg. + +If the dress of the boers is solid, quaint, and national, the daily food +of the class is in keeping with their conservative temper and traditional +gastronomic ability. It is of the plainest character, but often consists +of the strangest mixtures. When a pig is killed, and the different parts +for hams, sides of bacon, etc., have been stored, and the sausages +made--especially after they have boiled the black-puddings, or +'Bloedworst,' which is made of the blood of the pigs--a thick fatty +substance remains in the pot. This they thicken with buckwheat meal till +it forms a porridge, and then they eat it with treacle. The name of this +dish is 'Balkenbry.' A portion of this, together with some of the +'slacht,' i.e. the flesh of the pig, is sent as a present to the +clergyman of the village, and it is to be hoped he enjoys it. + +Another favourite dish, especially in Overyssel and Gelderland, is +'Kruidmoes.' This is a mixture of buttermilk boiled with buckwheat meal, +vegetables, celery, and sweet herbs, such as thyme, parsley, and chervil, +and, to crown all, a huge piece of smoked bacon, and it is served steaming +hot. The poor there eat a great deal of rice and flour boiled with +buttermilk, which, besides being very nutritious, is 'matchless for the +complexion,' like many of the advertised soaps. The very poor have what is +called a 'Vetpot.' This they keep in the cellar, and in it they put every +particle of fat that remains over from their meals. Small scraps of bacon +are melted down and added to it, for this fat must last them the whole +winter through as an addition to their potatoes. Indeed, the 'Vetpot' +plays as great a part in a poor man's house as the 'stock-pot' does in an +English kitchen. + +[Illustration: Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor.] + +The meals are cooked in a large iron pot, which hangs from a hook over the +open hearth. The fuel consists of huge logs of wood and heather sods, +which are also used for covering the roofs of the 'Plaggewoning.' Black or +rye bread takes the place of white, and is generally home-made. In Brabant +the women bake what is called 'Boeren mik.' This is a delicious long brown +loaf, and there are always a few raisins mixed with the dough to keep it +from getting stale. Those who have no ovens of their own put the dough in +a large long baking-tin and send it to the baker. One of the children, on +his way back from school, fetches it and carries it home _under his arm_. +You may often see farmers' children walking about in their wooden shoes +with two or more loaves under their arms. Both wooden shoes and loaves are +used in a dispute between comrades, and the loaf-carrier generally gains +the day. The crusts are very hard and difficult to cut, but, inside, the +bread is soft and palatable. + +In Brabant the peasants--small of stature, black-haired, brown-eyed, more +of the Flemish than the Dutch type--are as a rule Roman Catholics, and on +Shrove Tuesday evening 'Vastenavond,' 'Fast evening' (the night before +Lent), they bake and eat 'Worstebrood.' On the outside this bread looks +like an ordinary white loaf, but on cutting it open you find it to contain +a spicy sausage-meat mixture. All the people in this part of the country +observe the Carnival, with its accustomed licence. + +Times for farming are bad in the Netherlands as elsewhere. The rents are +high and wages low, and the consequence is that many peasants sell their +farms, which have for a long time been in their families, and rent them +again from the purchasers. The relations between landlord and tenants are +in some respects still feudalistic, and hence very old-fashioned. On some +estates the landlord has still the right of exacting personal service from +his tenants, and can call upon them to come and plough his field with +their horses, or help with the harvesting, for which service they are paid +one 'gulden,' or 1s. 8d. a day, which, of course, is not the full value of +their labour. The tenants likewise ask their landlord's consent to their +marriages, and it is refused if the man or woman is not considered +suitable or respectable. + +A farmer who keeps two or three cows pays a rent of £8 a year for his +farm, which only yields enough to keep him and his family, not in a high +standard of living either. The rent is generally calculated at the rate of +three per cent. of the value. He pays his farm-labourers 80 cents, or 1s. +4d., for a day's work. In former days, however, money was never given, and +the wages of a farm-servant then were a suit of clothes, a pair of boots, +and some linen, while the women received an apron, some linen, and a few +petticoats once a year. Now they get in addition to this £12 a year. In +Gramsbergen (Overyssel) a whole family, consisting of a mother, her +daughter, and her two grown-up sons, earned no more than four or five +guilders (8s. or 10s.) between them, but then they lived rent free. It is +not wonderful, therefore, that farm-labourers are scarce, and that many a +young man, unable to earn enough to keep body and soul together decently, +seeks work in the factories here or in Belgium,[Footnote: According to a +recent return, 56,506 Netherlands workmen are employed in Belgium.] while +those who do not wish to give up agricultural pursuits migrate to Germany, +where the demand for 'hands' is greater and the wages consequently higher. +In former days strangers came to this country to earn money. Now the +tables are turned, and the fact that Holland is situated between two +countries whose thriving industries demand a greater number of workers +every year will yet bring serious trouble and loss to Dutch agriculture. +[Footnote: Just now great results are expected from the 'allotment +system,' of which a trial has been made in Friesland on the extensive +possessions of Mr. Jansen, of Amsterdam.] + + + + +Chapter IX + +Rural Customs + + + +The Hollander is a very conservative individual, and therefore some +curious customs still prevail among the peasant and working classes in the +Netherlands, especially in the Eastern provinces, for there the people are +most primitive, and there it is that we find many queer old rhymes, +apparently without any sense in them, but which must have had their origin +in forgotten national or domestic events. A remnant of an old pagan custom +of welcoming the summer is still to be seen in many country places. On the +Saturday before Whitsunday, very early in the morning, a party of children +may be seen setting out towards the woods to gather green boughs. After +dipping these in water they return home in triumph and place them before +the doors of those who were not 'up with the lark' in such a manner that, +when these long sleepers open them, the wet green boughs will come +tumbling down upon their heads. Very often, too, the children pursue the +late risers, and beat them with the branches, jeering at them the while, +and singing about the laziness of the sluggard. These old songs have +undergone very many variations, and nowadays one cannot say which is the +correct and original form. They have, in fact, been hopelessly mixed up +with other songs, and in no two provinces do we find exactly the same +versions. The 'Luilak feest,'[Footnote: This day is called Luilak +(sluggard) in some parts of the country and the feast is called +Luilakfeest.'] of which I have just spoken, goes by the name of +'Dauwtrappen' ('treading the dew') in some parts of the country, but the +observance of it is the same wherever the custom obtains. + +[Illustration: Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs.] + +'Eiertikken' at Easter must also not be overlooked. For a whole week +before Easter the peasant children go round from house to house begging +for eggs, and carrying a wreath of green leaves stuck on a long stick. +This stick and wreath they call their 'Palm Paschen,' which really +means Palm-Sunday, and may have been so called because they make the +wreath on that day. + +Down the village streets they go, singing all the while and waving the +wreath above their heads:-- + + Palm, Palm Paschen, + Hei koekerei. + Weldra is het Paschen + Dan hebben wy een ei. + Een ei--twee ei, + Het derde is het Paschei. + + Palm, Palm Sunday, + Hei koekerei. + Soon it will be Easter + And we shall have an egg. + One egg--two eggs, + The third egg is the Easter egg. + +They knock at every farmhouse, and are very seldom sent away empty-handed. +When they have collected enough eggs to suit their purpose--generally +three or four apiece--they boil them hard and stain them with two +different colours, either brown with coffee or red with beetroot juice, +and then on Easter Day they all repair to the meadows carrying their eggs +with them, and the 'eiertikken' begins. The children sit down on the +grass, and each child knocks one of his eggs against that of another in +such a way that only one of the shells breaks. The child whose egg does +not break wins, and becomes the possessor of the broken egg. + +The strangest of all these begging-customs, however, is the one in vogue +between Christmas and Twelfth Night. Then the children go out in couples, +each boy carrying an earthenware pot, over which a bladder is stretched, +with a piece of stick tied in the middle. When this stick is twirled +about, a not very melodious grumbling sound proceeds from the contrivance, +which is known by the name of 'Rommelpot.' By going about in this manner +the children are able to collect some few pence to buy bread--or gin--for +their fathers. When they stop before any one's house, they drawl out, +'Give me a cent, and I will pass on, for I have no money to buy bread.' +The origin both of the custom and song is shrouded in mystery.[Footnote: A +Society of Research into old folklore and folk-song has recently been +founded by some of the leading Dutch literary authorities, who also +propose to publish a little periodical in which all these customs will be +collected and noted.] + +Besides the customs in vogue at such festive seasons as Whitsuntide, +Easter, and Christmas, there are yet others of more everyday occurrence +which are well worth the knowing. In Overyssel, for instance, we find a +very sensible one indeed. It is usual there when a family remove to +another part of the village, or when they settle elsewhere, for the people +living in the neighbourhood to bring them presents to help furnish their +new house. Sometimes these presents include poultry or even a pig, which, +though they do not so much furnish the house as the table, prove +nevertheless very acceptable. As soon as all the moving is over and they +are comfortably installed in their new home, the next thing to do is to +invite all the neighbours to a party. + +This is a very important social duty and ought on no account to be +omitted, as it entitles host and hostess to the help of all their guests +in the event of illness or adversity taking place in their family. If, +however, they do not conform to this social obligation, their neighbours +and friends stand aloof, and do not so much as move a finger to help them. +Should one of the family fall ill, the four nearest male neighbours are +called in. These men fetch the doctor, and do all the nursing. They will +even watch by the invalid at night, and so long as the illness lasts they +undertake all the farm-work. Sometimes they will go on working the farm +for years, and when a widow is left with young children in straitened +circumstances, these 'Noodburen' ('neighbours in need') will help her in +all possible ways, and take all the business and worry off her hands. + +[Illustration: Rommel Pot.] + +In case of a marriage, too, the neighbours do the greater part of the +preparations. They invite the relations and friends to come to the +wedding, and make ready the feast. The invitations are always given by +word of mouth, and two young men[Footnote: In Gelderland we find this same +custom and also in Friesland, but in this last-named province the +invitation is given by two young girls.] nearly related to the bride and +bridegroom are appointed to go round from house to house to bid the people +come. They are dressed for this purpose in their best Sunday clothes, and +wear artificial flowers and six peacock's feathers in their caps. The +invitation is made in poetry, in which the assurance is conveyed that +there will be plenty to eat and plenty of gin and beer to drink, and that +whatever they may have omitted to say will be told by the bride and +bridegroom at the feast. This verse in the native patois is very curious-- + + 'GOEN DAG! + + 'Daor stao'k op minen staf + En weet niet wat ik zeggen mag, + Nou hek me weer bedach + En weet ik wat ik zeggen mag + Hier sturt ons Gut yan Vente als brugom + En Mientje Elschot as de brud, + Ende' noget uwder ut + Margen vrog on tien ur + Op en tonne bier tiene twalevenne, + Op en anker win, vif, zesse + En en wanne vol rozimen. + De zult by Venterboer verschinen + Met de husgezeten + En nums vergeten, + Vrog kommen en late bliven + Anders kun wy t nie 't op krigen + Lustig ezongen, vrolik esprongen, + Springen met de beide beene, + En wat ik nog hebbe vergeten + Zult ow de Brogom ende Brud verbeten. + Hej my elk nuw wal verstaan + Dan laot de fles um de taofel gaon + + + 'GOOD DAY! + + 'I rest here on my stick, + I don't know what to say, + Now I have thought of it + And know what I may say: + Here sent us Gart van Vente, the bridegroom, + And Mientje Elschot, the bride, + To invite you + To-morrow morning at ten o'clock + To empty ten or twelve barrels of beer, + Five or six hogsheads of wine, + And a basket full of dried grapes. + You will come to the house of Venterboer + With all your inmates + And forget nobody. + Come early and remain late, + Else we can't swallow it all down. + Then sing cheerfully, leap joyfully, + Leap with both your legs. + And, what I have yet forgotten, + Think of the bridegroom and bride. + If you have understood me well + Let pass the bottle round the table.' + +The day before the wedding is to take place the bridegroom and some of +his friends arrive at the bride's house in a cart, drawn by four horses, +to bring away the bride and her belongings. These latter are a motley +collection, for they consist not only of her clothes, bed and +bed-curtains, but her spinning-wheel, linen-press full of linen, and +also a cow. After everything has been loaded upon the cart, and the +young men have refreshed themselves with 'rystebry' (rice boiled with +sweet milk), they drive away in state, singing as they go. The following +day the bride is married from the house of her parents-in-law, and as it +often happens that the young couple live with the bridegroom's people, +it is only natural that they like to have the house in proper order +before the arrival of the wedding-guests, who begin to appear as soon as +eight o'clock in the morning. When all the invited guests are assembled +and have partaken of hot gin mixed with currants, handed round in +two-handled pewter cups, kept especially for these occasions, the whole +party goes, about eleven o'clock, to the 'Stadhuis,' or Town Hall, where +the couple are married before the Burgomaster, and afterwards to the +church, where the blessing is given upon their union. On returning home +the mid-day meal is ready, and, on this festive occasion, consists of +ham, potatoes, and salt fish, and the clergyman is also honoured with +an invitation to the gathering. The rest of the day is spent in +rejoicings, in which eating and drinking take the chief part. The bride +changes her outer apparel about four times during the day, always in +public, standing before her linen-press. The day is wound up with a +dance, for which the village fiddler provides the music, the bride +opening the ball with one of the young men who invited the guests, and +she then presents him with a fine linen handkerchief as a reward for his +invaluable services on the occasion. + +In Friesland a curious old custom still exists, called the 'Joen-piezl,' +which furnishes the clue to an odd incident in Mrs. Schreiner's 'Story of +an African Farm.' When a man and girl are about to be married, they must +first sit up for a whole night in the kitchen with a burning candle on the +table between them. By the time the candle is burnt low in its socket they +must have found out whether they really are fond of each other. + +The marriage customs in North and South Holland are very different to the +former. As soon as a couple are 'aangeteekend,' i.e. when the banns are +published for the first time (which does not happen in church, but takes +the form of a notice put up at the Town Hall), and have returned from the +'Stadhuis,' they drive about and take a bag of sweets ('bruidsuikers') to +all their friends. On the wedding-day, after the ceremony is over, the +bride and bridegroom again drive out together in a 'chaise'--a high +carriage on very big wheels, with room for but two persons. The horse's +head, the whip, and the reins are all decorated with flowers and coloured +ribbons. The wedding-guests drive in couples behind the bride and +bridegroom's 'chaise,' and the progress is called 'Speuleryden.' Sometimes +they drive for miles across country, stopping at every _café_ to drink +brandy and sugar, and when they pass children on the road these call out +to them, 'Bruid, bruid, strooi je suikers uit' ('Bride, bride, strew your +sugars about.') Handfuls of sweets will thereupon be seen flying through +the air and rolling about the ground, while the children tumble over each +other in their eager haste to collect as many of these sweets as they can. +Sometimes as much as twenty-five pounds of sweets are thus scattered upon +the roadside for the village children. Such a wedding is quite an event in +the lives of these little ones, and they will talk for weeks to come about +the amount of sweets they were able to procure. + +[Illustration: A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume.] + +[Illustration: Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur.] + +At Ryswyk, a little village near The Hague, and in most villages in +Westland, South Holland, the bride and bridegroom present to the +Burgomaster and Wethouders, and also to the 'Ambtenaar van den +Burgerlyken Stand' who marries them at the 'Stadhuis,' a bag of these +sweets, while one bearing the inscription, 'Compliments of bride and +bridegroom,' is given to the officiating clergyman immediately after the +ceremony in church. On their way home all along the road they strew +'suikers' out of the carriage windows for the gaping crowds. Some of the +less well-to-do farmers, and those who live near large towns, give their +wedding-parties at a _café_ or 'uitspanning.' This word means literally a +place where the horse is taken out of the shafts, but it is also a +restaurant with a garden attached to it, in which there are swings and +seesaws, upon which the guests disport themselves during the afternoon, +while in the evening a large hall in the building is arranged for the +ball, for that is the conclusion of every 'Boeren bruiloft.' Very often +the ball lasts till the cock-crowing, and then, if the 'Bruiloft houers' +are Roman Catholics, it is no uncommon practice first to go to church and +'count their beads' before they disperse on their separate ways to begin +the duties of a new day. + +A birth is naturally an occasion that calls for very festive celebration. +When the child is about a week old, its parents send round to all their +friends to come and rejoice with them. The men are invited 'op een lange +pyp en een bitterje,' the women for the afternoon 'op suikerdebol.' At +twelve o'clock the men begin to arrive, and are immediately provided with +a long Gouda pipe, a pouch of tobacco, and a cut glass bottle containing +gin mixed with aromatic bitters. While they smoke, they talk in voices +loud enough to make any one who is not acquainted with a farmer's mode of +speech think that a great deal of quarrelling is going on in the house. +This entertainment lasts till seven o'clock, when all the men leave and +the room is cleared, though not ventilated, and the table is rearranged +for the evening's rejoicings. + +Dishes of bread and butter, flat buttered rusks liberally spread with +'muisjes' (sugared aniseed--the literal translation is 'mice'), together +with tarts and sweets of all descriptions, are put out in endless +profusion on all the best china the good wife possesses. For each of the +guests two of these round flat rusks are provided, two being the correct +number to take, for more than two would be considered greedy, and to eat +only one would be sure to offend the hostess. Eating and drinking, for +'Advocatenborrel' (brandy and eggs) is also served, go on for the greater +part of the afternoon. The mid-day meal is altogether dispensed with on +such a day, and, judging by appearances, one cannot say that the guests +look as if they had missed it! + +It is quite the national custom to eat rusks with 'muisjes' on on these +occasions, and these little sweets are manufactured of two kinds. The +sugar coating is smooth when the child is a girl, and rough and prickly +like a chestnut burr when the child is a boy; and when one goes to buy +'muisjes' at a confectioner's he is always asked whether boys' or girls' +'muisjes' are required. Hundreds-and-thousands, the well-known decoration +on buns and cakes in an English pastry-cook's shop, bear the closest +resemblance to these Dutch 'muisjes.' + +When a little child is born into a family of the better classes, the +servants are treated to biscuits and 'mice' on that day; while in the very +old-fashioned Dutch families there is still another custom, that of +offermg 'Kandeel,' a preparation of eggs and Rhine wine or hock, on the +first day the young mother receives visitors, and it is specially made for +these occasions by the 'Baker' nurse. + +Funeral processions are a very mournful sight on all occasions, but a +Dutch funeral depresses one for about a month after. The hearse is all +hung with black draperies, while on the box sits the coachman wearing a +large black hat called 'Huilebalk.' From the rim overlapping the face +hangs a piece of black cord. This he holds in his mouth to prevent the hat +from falling off his head. The hearse itself is generally embellished by +the images of grinning skulls, though the carriages following the hearse +have no distinctive mark. If such a funeral procession happens to come +along the road you yourself are going, you may be sure of enjoying its +company the whole way, for the horses are only allowed to walk, never +trot, and it takes hours to get to the cemetery. In former days the horses +were specially shod for this occasion in such a way that they went lame on +one leg. This end was achieved by driving the nail of the shoe into the +animal's foot, for people thought this added to the doleful aspect of the +_corétge_ as it advanced slowly along the road. Happily this cruelty is +now dispensed with, and indeed is entirely forbidden by the Society for +the Prevention of Cruelty to Animais, but the ugly aspect of the hearses +remains the same. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Peasant Woman.] + +At a death, the relatives of the deceased have large cards printed, +announcing the family loss. These cards are taken round to every house in +the neighbourhood by a man specially hired for the purpose. This man, +called an 'Aanspreker,' carries a list of the names and addresses of the +people on whom he has to leave the cards; if the people sending out the +cards have friends in any other street of the town, a card is left at +every house in that street. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Children in State.] + +If the deceased was an officer, the cards, beside being sent round in +the neighbourhood, are left at every officer's house throughout the +town. To whichever profession the deceased belonged, to the people of +that profession the cards are sent. A Minister of State or any other +person occupying a very high position sends cards to every house in the +town and suburbs. + +In a village or country place a funeral is rather a popular event, and +the preparations for it somewhat resemble the preparations for a feast. +This, for instance, is the case in Overyssel. When one of a family dies, +the nearest relatives immediately call in the neighbouring women, and +these take upon themselves all the necessary arrangements. They send +round messages announcing the death and day of interment; they buy +coffee, sugar-candy, and a bottle of gin, wherewith to refresh themselves +while making the shroud and dressing the dead body; and the next morning +they take care that the church bells are duly rung, and, in the +afternoon, when the relations and friends come to offer their +condolences, they serve them, as they sit round the bier, with black +bread and coffee. When the plates and cups are empty the visitors leave +again without having spoken a word. + +On the day of the funeral, the guests assemble at two o'clock in the +afternoon. They first sit round the tables and eat and drink in silence, +and when the first batch have satisfied their appetites they move away and +make room for others. After this meal all walk round the coffin, and +repeat, one after another, 'Twas een goed mensch,' ('He or she was a good +man or woman,' as the case may be). Then the lid of the coffin is fastened +down with twelve wooden pegs, which the most honoured guest is allowed to +hammer in, and the coffin is forthwith placed on an ordinary farm-cart. +The nearest relations get in, too, and sit on the coffin, and the other +women on the cart facing the coffin. This custom is adhered to, +notwithstanding the prohibition by law to sit on any conveyance carrying a +coffin. The women are in mourning from tip to toe, and closely enveloped +in black merino shawls, which they wear over their heads. The men follow +on foot, and it is a picturesque though melancholy sight to watch these +funeral processions, always at close of day, solemnly wending their way +along the road, the dark figures of the women silhouetted against a sky +all aglow with those glorious sunsets for which Overyssel is famous. + + + + +Chapter X + +Kermis and St. Nicholas + + + +Of all the festivals and occasions of popular rejoicing and merriment in +Holland none can compare with the Kermis and the Festival of St. Nicholas, +which are in many ways peculiarly characteristic of Dutch life and Dutch +love for primitive usage. The Kermis is particularly popular, because of +the manifold amusements which are associated with it, and because it +unites all classes of the population in the common pursuit of +unsophisticated pleasure. As its name implies, the Kermis ('Kerk-mis') has +a religious origin, being named after the chief part of the Church +service, the mass. Just as the Feast of St. Baro received the name +'Bamisse,' so that of the consecration of the church was called the +'Church-mass,' or 'Kerk-mis.' In ancient times, if a church was +consecrated on the name-day of a certain saint the church was also +dedicated to that saint. Such a festival was a chief festival, or 'Hoof +feest,' for a church, and it was not only celebrated with great pomp and +solemnity, but amusements of all kinds were added to give the celebration +a more festive character. In large towns there were Kermissen at different +times of the year in different parishes, for each church was dedicated to +a different saint, so that there were as many dedicatory feasts in a town +as there were churches in it. + +At a very early period in the nation's history the Church-masses began to +wear a more worldly character, for the merchants made them an occasion for +introducing their wares and trading with the people, just as they did at +the ordinary 'year-markets.' These year-markets always fell on the same +day as the Kermissen, but they had a different origin. They were held by +permission of the Sovereign, and were first instituted to encourage trade; +but gradually the Kermis and the year-market went hand-in-hand, for the +people could no longer imagine a year-market without the Kermis +amusements, or a Kermis without booths and stalls, so if there was not +sufficient room for the latter to be built on the streets or squares, the +priest allowed them to be put up in the churchyard or sometimes even in +the church. Moreover, if it was not possible to have the year-market in +the same week as the Kermis, then the Kermis was put off to suit the +year-market, and these latter were of great aid to the religious +festivals, for they attracted a greater number of people, and as +dispensations were given for attending the masses both the churches and +the markets benefited. The mass lasted eight days, and the year-market as +long as the Church festival. The Church protected the year-markets, and +rang them in. With the first stroke of the Kermis clock the year-market +was opened and the first dance commenced, followed by a grand procession, +in which all the principal people of the town took part, and when the last +stroke died away white crosses were nailed upon all the bridges, and on +the gates of the town. These served both as a passport and also as a token +of the 'markt vrede' (market peace), so that any one seeing the cross knew +that he might enter the town and buy and sell _ad libitum_, also that his +peace and safety were guaranteed, and that any one who disturbed the +'markt vrede' would be banished from the place, and not be allowed to come +back another year. In some places this yearly market was named, after the +crosses, 'Cruyce-markt.' + +Very festive is the appearance of a town in the Kermis week. On the +opening day, at twelve o'clock, the bells of the cathedral or chief +church are set ringing, and this is the sign for the booths to be opened +and the 'Kermispret' to begin. Everywhere tempting stores are displayed +to view, and although a scent of oil and burning fat pervades the air, +nobody seems to mind that, for it only increases the delight the Kermis +has in store for them. The stalls are generally set out in two rows. The +most primitive of these is the stall of hard-boiled eggs and pickled +gherkins, whose owner is probably a Jew, and pleasant sounds his hoarse +voice while praising his wares high above all others. If he does prevail +upon you to come and try one of his eggs and gherkins it only adds more +relish to your meal when he tells you of the man who only paid one cent +for a large gherkin which really cost two, and although he already had +put it in his mouth he made him put the other part back. Or when you go +to eat 'poffertjes,' which look so tempting, and with the first bite find +a quid of tobacco in the inoffensive-looking little morsel, do not let +this trifling incident disturb your equanimity, but try another booth. It +is quite worth your while to stand in front of a 'poffertjeskraam' and +see how they are made. The batter is simply buckwheat-meal mixed with +water, and some yeast to make it light. Over a bright fire of logs is +placed a large, square, iron baking-sheet with deep impressions for the +reception of the batter. On one side sits a woman on a high stool, with a +bowl of the mixture by her side and a large wooden ladle in her hand. +This she dips into the batter, bringing it out full, then with a quick +sweep of the arm she empties its contents into the hollows of the +baking-sheet. A man standing by turns them dexterously one by one with a +steel fork, and a moment later he pricks them six at a time on to the +fork; this he docs four times to get a plateful, and then he hands it +over to another man inside the booth, who adds a pat of butter and a +liberal sprinkling of sugar. The 'wafelkramen' are not so largely +patronized, as the price of these delicacies is rather too high for the +slender purses of the average 'Kermis houwer,' but 'oliebollen'--round +ball-shaped cakes swimming in oil--are within the reach of all, as they +cost but a cent apiece. Servants and their lovers, after satisfying their +appetites with these 'oliebollen,' go and have a few turns in the +roundabouts by way of a change, and then hurry to the fish stall, where +they eat a raw salted herring to counteract the effects of the earlier +dissipation. The more respectable servant, however, turns up her nose at +the herrings, and goes in for smoked eel. These fish-stalls are very +quaint in appearance, for they are hung with garlands of dried +'scharretje' (a white, thin, leathery-looking fish), which dangle in +front, and form a most original decoration. In the towns a separate day +and evening are set apart for the servant classes to go to the fair, and +there is also a day for the _élite_. + +At the commencement of the reign of King William III. the whole Court, +including the King and Queen, used to meet at The Hague Kermis on the +Lange Voorhout on Thursday afternoons, between two and four o'clock, and +walk up and down between the double row of stalls; and in the evening of +that day they all visited either the most renowned circus of the season or +went to see the 'Kermis stuk,' or special play acted in fan-time. + +The servants' evening, as it is held in Rotterdam, is the most +characteristic. It is an evening shunned by the more respectable people, +for the 'Kermisgangers are a very rowdy lot. They amuse themselves chiefly +by running along the streets in long rows, arm-in-arm, singing +'Hossen--hossen-hossen!' They also treat each other to 'Nieuw rood met +suiker'--black currants preserved in gin with sugar--until they are all +quite tipsy, and woe to any quiet pedestrian who has the misfortune to +pass their way, for with loud 'Hi-has' they encircle him and make him +'hos' with them. The evening is commonly called the 'Aalbessen +(black-currant) hos.' + +[Illustration: Kermis: 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' _(After the Picture of Van +Geldrop_)] + +An equally curious but not so bad a custom is the Groninger 'Koek eten.' +All Groningers are fond of cake, and the 'Groninger kauke' is a widespread +and very tasty production; but for this special purpose is used the +'ellekoek,' a very long thin cake, which, as its name implies, is sold by +the yard. It is very tough, and just thin enough to hold in a large mouth, +and when a man chooses a girl to keep Kermis with him they must first see +whether they will suit one another as 'Vryer and Vryster' by eating +'ellekoek.' This is done in the following manner. They stand opposite one +another, and each begins at an end and eats towards the other. They may +not touch the cake with their hands, but must hold it between their teeth +all the while they are eating, and if they are unable to accomplish this +feat and kiss when they get to the middle it is a sure sign that they are +not suited to one another, and so the partnership is not concluded. In +some parts of Friesland and in Voorburg, one of the many villages near The +Hague, there is another cake custom, the 'Koekslän,' which is a sort of +cake lottery. The cakes are all put out on large blocks, which are higher +at the sides than in the middle, and, for twopence, any one who likes may +try his luck and see if he can break the cake in two by striking it with a +stout stick provided by the stall-keeper for the purpose. It is necessary +to do this in one blow, for a second try involves the payment of another +fee. He who succeeds carries off the broken cake, and receives a second +one as a prize. Some men are very clever at this, and manage to carry off +a good many prizes. + +Just as the Kermis is rung in by the bells, so also it is tolled out +again. This, however, is not an official proceeding, but a custom among +the schoolboys of the Gymnasium and Higher Burgher Schools. At The Hague, +on the last day of the fair, all the 'schooljeugd' assembled in the Lange +Voorhout, dressed in black, just as they would dress for a funeral, while +four of them carried a bier, hung with wreaths and black draperies. On +this bier was supposed to rest all that remained of the Kermis. In front +of the bier walked a boy ringing a large bell, and proclaiming, 'De Kermis +is dood, de Kermis wordt begraven' ('The Kermis is dead, and is going to +be buried'). Behind the bier came all the other boys with the most +mournful expression upon their faces they could muster for the occasion, +and thus they carried the 'dead fair' through the principal streets of the +town, and at last buried it in the 'Scheveningsche Boschjes.' But this +custom is now a thing of the past, for the Kermis at The Hague has been +abolished, even as it has been abolished in most of the other towns +throughout the kingdom, for all authorities were agreed that fair-time +promoted vice and drunkenness, and the old-fashioned Kermis is now only to +be found in Rotterdam, Leyden, Delft, and some of the smaller provincial +towns and villages. + +The 6th of December is the day dedicated to St. Nicholas, and its vigil is +one of the most characteristic of Dutch festivals. It is an evening for +family reunions, and is filled with old recollections for the elders and +new delights for the younger people and children. Just as English people +give presents at Christmas time, so do the Dutch at St. Nicholas, only in +a different way, for St. Nicholas presents must be hidden and disguised as +much as possible, and be accompanied by rhymes explaining what the gift is +and for whom St. Nicholas intends it. Sometimes a parcel addressed to one +person will finally turn out to be for quite a different member of the +family than the one who first received it, for the address on each wrapper +in the various stages of unpacking makes it necessary for the parcel to +change hands as many times as there are papers to undo. The tiniest +things are sent in immense packing-cases, and sometimes the gifts are +baked in a loaf of bread or hidden in a turf, and the longer it takes +before the present is found the more successful is the 'surprise.' + +The greatest delight to the giver of the parcel is to remain unknown as +long as possible, and even if the present is sent from one member of the +family to another living in the same house the door-bell is always rung by +the servant before she brings the parcel in, to make believe that it has +come from some outsider; and if a parcel has to be taken to a friend's +house it is very often entrusted to a passer-by, with the request to leave +it at the door and ring the bell. In houses where there are many children, +some of the elders dress up as the good Bishop St. Nicholas and his black +servant. The children are always very much impressed by the knowledge St. +Nicholas shows of all their shortcomings, for he usually reminds them of +their little failings, and gives them each an appropriate lecture. +Sometimes he makes them repeat a verse to him or asks them about their +lessons, all of which tends to make the moment of his arrival looked +forward to with much excitement and some trembling, for St. Nicholas +generally announces at what time he is to be expected, so that all may be +in readiness for his reception. + +On the eventful evening a large white sheet is laid out upon the floor in +the middle of the room, and round it stand all the children with sparkling +eyes and flushed faces, eagerly scrutinizing the hand of the clock. As +soon as it points to five minutes before the expected time of the Saint's +arrivai they begin to sing songs to welcome him to their midst, and ask +him to give as liberally as was his wont, meanwhile praising his goodness +and greatness in the most eloquent terms. The first intimation the +children get of the Saint's arrival is a shower of sweets bursting in +upon them. Then, amid the general scramble which ensues, St. Nicholas +suddenly makes his appearance in full episcopal vestments, laden with +presents, while in the rear stands his black servant with an open sack in +one hand in which to put all the naughty boys and girls, and a rod in the +other which he shakes vigorously from time to time. When the presents have +all been distributed, and St. Nicholas has made his adieus, promising to +come back the following year, and the children are packed to bed to dream +of all the fun they have had, the older people begin to enjoy themselves. +First they sit round the table which stands in the middle of the room +under the lamp, and partake of tea and 'speculaas,' until their own +'surprises' begin to arrive. At ten O'clock the room is cleared, the +dust-sheet which was laid down for the children's scramble is taken up, +and all the papers and shavings, boxes and baskets that contained presents +are removed from the floor; the table is spread with a white table-cloth; +'letterbanket' with hot punch or milk chocolate is provided for the +guests; and, when all have taken their seats, a dish of boiled chestnuts, +steaming hot, is brought in and eaten with butter and salt. + +Cigars, the usual resource of Dutchmen when they do not know what to do +with themselves, do not form a feature of this memorable evening +(memorable for this fact also), not so much out of deference to the ladies +who are in their midst as for the reason that they are too fully occupied +with other and even pleasanter employments. + +[Illustration: St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th.] + +The personality of St. Nicholas, as now known by Dutch children, is of +mixed origin, for not merely the Bishop of Lycië, but Woden, the Frisian +god of the elements and of the harvest, figures largely in the legends +attached to his name. Woden possessed a magic robe which enabled him +when arrayed in it to go to any place in the world he wished in the +twinkling of an eye. This same power is attached to the 'Beste tabbaard' +of St. Nicholas, as may be seen from the verse addressed to him:-- + + + 'Sint Niklaas, goed, heilig man + Trek je beste tabberd an + Ryd er mee naar Amsterdam + Van Amsterdam naar Spanje.' + + [St. Nicholas, good, holy man + Put on your best gown + Ride with it to Amsterdam, + From Amsterdam to Spain.] + +The horse Sleipnir, on whose back Woden took his autumn ride through the +world, has been converted into the horse of St. Nicholas, on which the +Saint rides about over the roofs of the houses to find out where the good +and where the naughty children live. In pagan days a sheaf of corn was +always left out on the field in harvest time for Woden's horse, and the +children of the present day still carry out the same idea by putting a +wisp of hay in their shoes for the four-footed friend of the good Saint. +The black servant who now always accompanies St. Nicholas is an +importation from America, for the Pilgrim Fathers carried their St. +Nicholas festival with them to the New Country, and some of their +descendants who came to live in Holland brought 'Knecht Ruprecht' with +them, and so added another feature to the St. Nicholas festivity. + +What the Dutch originally knew of the life and works of 'Dominus Sanctus +Nicolaus' was told them by the Spaniards at the time of their influence in +Holland, and so it is believed that the Saint was born at Myra, in Lycie, +and lived in the commencement of the fourth century, in the reign of +Constantine the Great. From his earliest youth he showed signs of great +piety and self-denial, refusing, it is said, even when quite a tiny child, +to take food more than once a day on fast days! His whole life was devoted +to doing good, and even after his death he is credited with performing +many miracles. Maidens and children chiefly claim him as their patron +saint, but he also guards sailors, and legend asserts that many a ship on +the point of being wrecked or stranded has been saved by his timely +influence. During his lifetime the circumstance took place for which he +was ever afterwards recognized as the maidens' guardian. A certain man had +lost all his money, and to rid himself from his miserable situation he +determined to sell his three beautiful daughters for a large sum. St. +Nicholas heard of his intention, and went to the man's house in the night, +taking with him some of the money left him by his parents, and dropped it +through a broken window-pane. The following night St. Nicholas again took +a purse of gold to the poor man's house, and managed to drop it through +the chimney, but when he reached the man's door on the third night it was +suddenly opened from the inside, and the poor man rushed out, caught St. +Nicholas by his robe, and, falling down on his knees before him, +exclaimed, 'O Nicholas, servant of the Lord, wherefore dost thou hide thy +good deeds?' and from that time forth every one knew it was St. Nicholas +who brought presents during the night. In pictures one often sees St. +Nicholas represented with the threefold gift in his hand, in the form of +three golden apples, fruits of the tree of life. Another very well known +Dutch picture is St. Nicholas standing by a tub, from which are emerging +three bags. About fifty years ago such a picture was to be seen in +Amsterdam on the corner house between the Dam and the Damrak, with the +inscription, 'Sinterklaes.' The story runs that three boys once lost their +way in a dark wood, and begged a night's lodging with a farmer and his +wife. While the children were asleep the wicked couple murdered them, +hoping to rob them of all they had with them, but they soon discovered +that the lads had no treasure at all, and so, to guard against detection, +they salted the dead bodies, and put them in the tub with the pigs' flesh. +That same afternoon, while the farmer was at the market, St. Nicholas +appeared to him in his episcopal robes, and asked him whether he had any +pork to sell. The man replied in the negative, when St. Nicholas rejoined, +'What of the three young pigs in your tub? 'This so frightened the farmer +that he confessed his wicked deed, and implored forgiveness. St. Nicholas +thereupon accompanied him to his house, and waved his staff over the +meat-tub, and immediately the three boys stepped forth well and hearty, +and thanked St. Nicholas for restoring them to life. + +The birch rod, which naughty Dutch children have still to fear, has also a +legendary origin, and is not merely an imaginary addition to the +attributes of the Saint. A certain abbot would not allow the responses of +St. Nicholas to be sung in his church, notwithstanding the repeated +requests of the monks of his order, and he dismissed them at last with the +words, 'I consider this music worldly and profane, and shall never give +permission for it to be used in my church.' These words so enraged St. +Nicholas that he came down from the heavens at night when the abbot was +asleep, and, dragging him out of bed by the hair of his head, beat him +with a birch rod he carried in his hand till he was more dead than alive. +The lesson proved salutary, and from that day forth the responses of St. +Nicholas formed a part of the service. + +The St. Nicholas festival has always been kept with the greatest splendour +at Amsterdam. It was there that the festival was first instituted, and the +first church built which was dedicated to his name; for when Gysbrecht +III., Heer van Amstel, had the Amstel dammed, many people came to live +there, and houses arose up on all sides, and naturally, when the want of a +church was felt, and it was built, the good Nicholas was chosen the patron +Saint of the town. On his name-day masses were held in the church, and the +usual Kermis observed, Booths and stalls were set out in two rows all +along the Damrak, where the people of Amsterdam could buy sweets and toys +for their children. Special cakes were baked in the form of a bishop, and +named, after St. Nicholas, 'Klaasjes.' They were looked upon as an +offering dedicated to the Saint according to the old custom of their +forefathers, which can be again traced to the service of Woden. + +Not only Amsterdammers, however, but people from all the neighbouring +towns flocked to the St. Nicholas market, and followed the Amsterdammers' +example of filling their children's shoes with cakes and toys, always +telling them the old legend that St. Nicholas himself brought these +presents through the chimney and put them in their shoes. During and after +the Reformation this now popular festival had to bear a great deal of +opposition, for authors and preachers alike agreed that it was a foolish +feast, and led to superstition and idolatry. Hence the decree was issued, +in the year 1622, that no cakes might be baked and no Kermis held, and +even the children were forbidden to put out their shoes as they were +accustomed to do. But for once in a way people were sensible enough to +understand that giving their children a pleasant evening had nothing to do +either with superstition or idolatry, and so the festival lived on with +Protestants as well as Roman Catholics, although one point was gained by +the Reformers, in that St. Nicholas was no longer looked upon as holy and +worshipped, but was only honoured as the patron Saint and guardian of +their children. + +The fairs which once belonged to the festival of St. Nicholas are no +longer held in the street, at any rate in the larger towns, but the +exchange of presents is as universal as ever, and the shops look as +festive as shops in England do at Christmas-time. In many other ways, +indeed, St. Nicholas corresponds to Christmas in other countries, and +Protestants and Catholics alike observe it, although there is no religions +significance in the festival. The season, too, has its special cakes and +sweets. There are the flat hard cakes, made in the shapes of birds, +beasts, and fishes--the so-called 'Klaasjes'--for they are no longer baked +only in the form of a bishop, as they used to be. Then there is +'Letterbanket,' made, as the name implies, in the form of letters, so that +any one who likes can order his name in cake, and the 'Marsepein' +(marzipan) is now made in all possible shapes, though formerly only in +heart-shaped sweets, ornamented with little turtle-doves made of pink +sugar, or a flaming heart on a little altar. These sweets, it is said, +were invented by St. Nicholas himself, when he was a bishop, for the +benefit and use of lovers; for St. Nicholas held the office of +'Hylik-maker,' and many a couple were united by him. That is why the +confectioners bake 'Vryers and Vrysters' of cake at St. Nicholas time. If +a young man wanted to find out whether a girl cared for him, he used to +send her a heart of 'Marsepein' and a 'Vryer' of cake. Should she accept +this present he knew he had nothing to fear, but if she declined to accept +it he knew there was no hope for him in that quarter. These large dolls of +cake were usually decorated with strips of gold paper pasted over them, +but this fashion has gone out of use, and has caused the death of another +old custom; for it used to be a great treat for children and young people +to go and help the confectioners (who wrote all their customers an +invitation for that evening) on the 4th of December to prepare their goods +for the 'étalage.' Any cake that broke while in their hands they were +allowed to eat, and no doubt many did break. + +It is not likely that this celebration of St. Nicholas will ever be +abolished, and the shopkeepers do their best to perpetuate it by offering +new attractions for the little folk every year. Figures of St. Nicholas, +life-size, are placed before their windows; and some even have a man +dressed like the good Saint, who goes about the streets, mounted on a +white steed, while behind him follows a cart laden with parcels, which +have been ordered and are left in this way at the different houses. Crowds +of children, singing, shouting, and clapping their hands, follow in the +rear, adding to the noise and bustle of the already crowded streets, but +people are too good-natured at St. Nicholas time to expostulate. Smiling +faces, mirth, and jollity abound everywhere, and good feeling unites all +men as brethren on this most popular of all the Dutch festivals. + + + + +Chapter XI + +National Amusements + + + +Holland, like other countries, is indebted to primitive and classic +times for most of its national amusements and children's games, which +have been handed down from generation to generation. Many of the same +games have been played under many differing Governments and opposing +creeds. Hollander and Spaniard, Protestant and Catholic alike have found +common ground in those games and sports which afford so welcome a break +in daily work. + +'Hinkelbaan,' for example, found its way into the Netherlands from far +Phoenicia, whose people invented it. The game of cockal, 'Bikkelen,' still +played by Dutch village children on the blue doorsteps of old-fashioned +houses, together with 'Kaatsen,' was introduced into Holland by Nero +Claudius Druses, and it is stated that he laid out the first 'Kaatsbaan.' +The Frisian peasant is very fond of this game; and also of 'Kolven,' the +older form of golf; and often on a Sunday morning after church he may be +seen dressed in his velvet suit and low-buckled shoes, engaged in these +outdoor sports. About a century ago a game called 'Malien' was universally +played in South Holland and Utrecht. For this it was necessary to have a +large piece of ground, at one end of which poles were erected, joined +together by a porch. The bail was driven by a 'Mahen kolf,' a long stick +with an iron head and a leather grip, and it had to touch both poles and +roll through the porch. The 'Maheveld' at The Hague and the 'Mahebaan' at +Utrecht remind one of the places in which this game was played. + +In Friesland the Sunday game for youths is 'Het slingeren met +Dimterkoek'--throwing Deventer cake. Four persons are required to play +this game. The players divide themselves into opposite parties, and play +against each other. First they toss up to see which of the parties and +which of the boys shall begin. He on whom the lot falls is allowed to +give his turn to his opponent, which he often does if, on feeling the +cake, he notices that it is soft and liable to break easily. If, on the +contrary, it is hard, he keeps the first throw for himself. Holding the +cake firmly in his right hand, he takes a little run, bends backward, and +with a sudden swing throws the cake forward (as one throws a stone) so +that it flies away a good distance, breaking off just at the grip. This +piece, called 'hanslik,' or handpiece, he must keep in his hand, for if +he drops it he must let his turn pass by once, and his throw is not +counted. The distance of the throw is now measured and noted down, +whereupon one of the opposing party takes the piece of cake and throws +it, and so it goes on alternately till each has had a turn. The distances +of the throws of every two boys are counted together, and the side which +has the most points wins. + +There are also games played only at certain seasons of the year, as the +'Eiergaren' at Easter-time. This was very popular even in the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries. On Easter Monday all the village people betake +themselves to the principal street of the 'dorp' to watch the +'eiergaarder.' At about two o'clock in the afternoon the innkeeper who +provides the eggs appears upon the scene with a basket containing +twenty-five. These he places on the road at equal distances of twelve feet +from each other. In the middle of the road is then placed a tub of water, +on which floats a very large apple, the largest he has been able to +procure. Two men are chosen from the ranks of the villagers. The one is +led to the tub, his hands are tied behind his back, and he is told to eat +the floating apple; the other has to take the basket in his hand and pick +up while running all the eggs and arrange them in the basket before the +apple is eaten. He who finishes his task first is the winner, and carries +off the basket of eggs as a prize. It provokes great fun to see the man +trying to get hold of the floating-apple, which escapes so easily from the +grasp of his teeth, but some men are wise enough to push the apple against +the side of the tub, and of course as soon as they have taken one bite the +rest is easily eaten. When the game is over, the greater number of the +villagers go and drink to the good health of the winner at the +public-house, and so the innkeeper makes a good thing out of this custom +also, and for a game like this it is certainly wise to refresh one's self +_after_ the event. Skittles and billiards are very popular with the +peasant and working classes on Sunday afternoons, the only free time a +labourer has for recreation. Games of chance, also, in which skill is at a +minimum, are as numerous in Holland as in any other country. + +Children's games naturally occupy a large share in young Netherlands life, +especially outdoor romping games. Of indoor games there are very few, a +fact which may, perhaps, be accounted for by the custom of allowing +children to play in the streets. In former days children of all classes +played together in outdoor sports and games, and developed both their +muscles and their republican character. Even Prince Frederik Hendrik (who +was brother to and succeeded Prince Maurits in 1625), when at school at +Leyden, mixed freely with his more humble companions, and was often +mistaken for an ordinary schoolboy, and an old woman once sharply rebuked +him for daring to use her boat-hook to fish his ball out of the water into +which it had fallen. Nor did she notice to whom she was speaking until a +passer-by called her attention to the fact that it was the Prince, +whereupon the poor old soul became so frightened that she durst not +venture out of her house for weeks from imaginary fear of falling into the +clutches of the law, and ending her days in prison. + +Games may be divided into two classes, those played with toys and those +for which no toys are needed; but whatever the games may be they all have +their special seasons. Once a man wrote an almanack on children's games, +and noted down ail the different sports and their seasons, but, as the +poet Huggens truly said, + + 'De kindren weten tyd van knickeren en kooten, + En zonder almanack en ist hen nooit ontschoten,' + +which, freely translated, means that children know which games are in +season by intuition, and do not need an almanack, so he might have saved +himself the trouble. 'The children know the time to play marbles and +"Kooten," and without an almanack have not forgotten.' + +In the eighteenth century driving a hoop was as popular an amusement with +children as it is now, only then it was also a sport, and prizes were +given to the most skilful. In fact, hoop-races were held, and boys and +girls alike joined in them. They had to drive their hoops a certain +distance, and the one who first reached the goal received a silver coin +for a prize. This coin was fastened to the hoop as a trophy, and the more +noise a hoop made while rolling over the streets the greater the honour +for the owner of it, for it showed that a great many prizes had been +gained. In Drenthe the popular game for boys is 'Man ik sta op je +blokhuis,' similar to 'I am the King of the Castle,' but there is also the +'Windspel.' For the latter a piece of wood and a ball are necessary. The +wood is placed upon a pole and the ball laid on one side of it, then with +a stick the child strikes as hard as possible the other side of the piece +of wood, at the same time calling 'W-i-n-d,' and the ball flies up into +the air, and may be almost lost to sight. + +'Boer lap den Buis,' an exciting game from a boy's point of view, is a +general favourite in Gelderland and Overyssel. For this the boys build a +sort of castle with large stones, and after tossing up to see who is to be +'Boer,' the boy on whom the lot has fallen stands in the stone fortress, +and the others throw stones at it from a distance, to see whether they can +knock bits off it. As soon as one succeeds in doing so he runs to get back +his stone, at the same time calling out 'Boer, lap den buis,' signifying +that the 'Boer' must mend the castle. If the 'Boer' accomplishes this, and +touches the bag before he has picked up his stone, they change places, and +the game begins anew. + +Little girls of the labouring classes have not much time for games of any +sort, for they are generally required at home to act as nursemaids and +help in many other duties of the home life, but sometimes on summer +afternoons they bring out their younger brothers and sisters, their +knitting and a skipping-rope, which they take in turns, and so pass a few +pleasant hours free from their share (not an inconsiderable one) of +household cares, or in the evenings, when the younger members of the +family are in bed, they will be quite happy with a bit of rope and their +skipping songs, of which they seem to know many hundreds, and which might +be sung with equal reason to any other game under the sun for all the +words have to do with skipping. + +After a long spell of rain the first fall of snow is hailed with +delight, for it is a sign that frost is not far off. Jack Frost, after +several preliminary appearances in December, usually pays his first long +visit in January (sometimes, however, this is but a flying visit of two +or three days), and, as a rule, a Dutchman may reckon on a good hard +winter. As soon, therefore, as he sees the snow he thinks of the good +old saying--'Sneeuw op slik in drie dagen ys dun of dik' ('Snow on mud +in three days' time, thin or thick'). Ice is to be expected, and he gets +out his skates with all speed. This is one of the few occasions when the +people of the Netherlands are enthusiastic. Certainly skating is _the_ +national sport. The ditches are always the first to be tried, as the +water in them is very shallow, and naturally freezes sooner than the +very deep and exposed waters of river and canal, over which the wind, +which is always blowing in Holland, has fair play; but when once these +are frozen, then skating begins in real earnest. The tracks are all +marked out by the Hollandsche Ysvereeniging, a society which was founded +in 1889 in South Holland, and which the other provinces have now joined. +Finger-posts to point the way are put up by this society at all +cross-roads and ditches, with notices to mark the dangerous places, +while the newspapers of the day contain reports as to which roads are +the best to take, and which trips can be planned. For people living in +South Holland the first trip is always to the Vink at Leyden, as it can +be reached by narrow streams and ditches, and it is quite a sight to see +the skaters sitting at little tables with plates of steaming hot soup +before them. The Vink has been famous for its pea soup many years, and +has been known as a restaurant from 1768. When the Galgenwater is frozen +(the mouth of the Rhine which flows into the sea at Kat wyk), then the +Vink has a still gayer appearance, for not only skaters, but pedestrians +from Leyden and the villages round about that town, flock to this _cafe_ +to watch the skating and enjoy the amusing scenes which the presence of +the ice affords them. Then the broad expanse of water, which in summer +looks so deserted and gloomy as it flows silently and dreamily towards +the sea, is dotted ail over with tents, flags, 'baanvegers,' and, if the +ice is strong, even sleighs. + +Among the peasant classes of South Holland it is the custom, as soon as +the ice will bear, to skate to Gouda, men and women together, there to buy +long Gouda pipes for the men and 'Goudsche sprits' for the women, and then +to skate home with these brittle objects without breaking them. As they +come along side by side, the farmer holding his pipe high above his head +and the woman carefully holding her bag of cakes, every passer-by knocks +against them and tries to upset them, but it seldom happens that they +succeed in doing so, as a farmer stands very firmly on his skates, and, as +a rule, he manages to keep his pipe intact after skating many miles. The +longest trip for the people of South Holland, North Holland, and Utrecht, +is through these three provinces, and the way over the ice-clad country is +quite as picturesque as in summer-time, the little mills, quaint old +drawbridges, and rustic farmhouses losing nothing of their charm in winter +garb. All along the banks of the canals and rivers little tents are put +up to keep out the wind; a roughly fashioned rickety table stands on the +ice under the shelter of the matting, and here are sold all manner of +things for the skaters to refresh themselves with--hot milk boiled with +aniseed and served out of very sticky cups, stale biscuits, and sweet +cake. The tent-holders call out their wares in the most poetical language +they can muster-- + + 'Leg ereis an! Leg ereis an! + In het tentje by de man. + Warme melk en zoete koek + En een bevrozen vaatedoek.' + + ['Put up, put up + At the tent with the man; + Warm milk and sweet cake, + And a frozen dish-cloth.'] + +and they tell you plainly that you may expect unwashed cups, for the cloth +wherewith to wipe them is frozen, as well as the water to cleanse them. + +Under the bridges the ice is not always safe, and even if it has become +safe the men break it up so that they may earn a few cents by people +passing over their roughly constructed gangways, and so boards are laid +down by the 'baanvegers' for the skaters to pass over without risking +their lives. Besides making these wooden bridges, the 'baanvegers' keep +the tracks clean. Every hundred yards or so one is greeted by the +monotonous cry of 'Denk ereis an de baanveger,' so that on long trips +these sweepers are a great nuisance, for having to get out one's purse and +give them cents greatly impedes progress. The Ice Society has, however, +minimized the annoyance by appointing 'baanvegers' who work for it and +are paid out of the common funds, so that the members of the society who +wear their badge can pass a 'baanveger' with a clear conscience, while as +the result of this combination you can skate over miles of good and +well-swept ice without interference for the modest sum of tenpence, this +being the cost of membership of the society for the whole season. + +[Illustration: Skating to Church.] + +The Kralinger Plassen and the Maas near Rotterdam are greatly frequented +spots for carnivals on the ice, but the grandest place for skating and ice +sports of all kinds is the Zuyder Zee. In a severe winter this large +expanse of ice connects instead of dividing Friesland with North Holland. +Here we see the little ice-boats flying over the glossy surface as fast as +a bird on the wing, and sleighs drawn by horses with waving plumes, while +thousands of people flock from Amsterdam to the little Isle of Marken, and +the variety of costume and colour swaying to and fro on the fettered +billows of the restless inland sea makes it seem for the moment as though +the Netherlander's dream had come true, and Zuyder Zee had really become +once more dry land. In winter every one, from the smallest to the +greatest, gives himself up to ice-sports, and even the poor are not +forgotten. In some villages races are proclaimed, for which the prizes are +turfs, potatoes, rice, coals, and other things so welcome to the poor in +cold weather. A racer is appolnted for every poor family, and where there +are no sons big enough to join in the races, a young man of the better +classes generally offers his services, and, when successful, hands his +prize over to the family he undertook to help. + +Skating is second nature with the Dutch, and as soon as a child can walk +it is put upon skates, even though they may often be much too big for it. +Moreover, when the ice is good, winter-time affords recreation for the +working as well as the leisured classes, for the canals and rivers become +roads, and the hard-worked errand-boys, the butchers' and the bakers' boys +manage to secure many hours of delightful enjoyment as they travel for +orders on skates. The milkman also takes his milk-cart round on a sledge, +and the farmers skate to market, saving both time and money, for then +there is no railway fare to be paid, and a really good skater goes almost +as fast as a train in Holland--especially the Frisian farmers, for +Frisians are renowned for their swift skating, and the most famous racer +of the commencement of the nineteenth century, Kornelis Ynzes Reen, skated +four miles in five minutes. + +But although the ice affords, and always has afforded, so much pleasure, +there are periods in history when the frost caused great anxiety to the +people of the Netherlands. The cities Naarden and Dordrecht are easily +reached by water, and when that is frozen it would give any one free +access to the town, and so in time of war frost was a much-dreaded thing. +In the year 1672 this fear was realized, for when the ships of the Geuzen +round about Naarden were stuck fast in the ice, and the Zuyder Zee was +frozen, the enemy, armed with canoes and battle-axes, came over the ice +from the Y and across the Zuyder Zee to Naarden. The best skaters among +the Geuzen immediately volunteered to meet the Spaniards on the ice. They +took only their swords with them, and while the ships' cannon had fair +play from the bulwarks of the vessels over the heads of the Geuzen into +the Spanish ranks, the Geuzen could approach them fearlessly and +unmolested for a hand-to-hand fight. The Spaniards, who, besides being +very heavily armed were very bad skaters, were soon defeated, for they +kept tumbling over each other. The Geuzen pursued them to Amsterdam, and +then returned to their ships, where they were greeted with great +enthusiasm, and, as the thaw set in the next day, they were happily saved +from a renewed attack. + + + + +Chapter XII + +Music and the Theatre + + + +Singing was one of the principal social pastimes of the Dutch nation +during the eighteenth and far into the nineteenth century, and the North +Hollander was especially fond of vocal music. When young girls went to +spend the evening at the house of a friend they always carried with them +their 'Liederboek '--a volume beautifully bound in tortoise-shell covers +or mounted with gold or silver. The songs contained in these books were a +strange mixture of the gay and grave. Jovial drinking-songs or +'Kermisliedjes' would find a place next to a 'Christian's Meditation on +Death.' It was an _olla podrida_, in which everybody's tastes were +considered. Recitations were also a feature of these little gatherings. + +Nowadays these national songs are rarely heard. French, Italian, and +German songs have taken their place, and it is but seldom one hears a real +Dutch song at any social gathering. The 'people,' too, seem to have +forgotten their natural gift of poetry, for the only songs now heard about +the streets are badly translated French or English ditties. If England +brings out a comic song of questionable art, six months later that song +will have made its way to Holland, and will have taken a popular place in +a Dutch street musician's _répertoire;_ it will be whistled in many +different keys by butcher and baker boys, and will be heard issuing +painfully from the wonderful mechanism of the superfluous concertina. For +almost every one in Holland possesses some musical instrument on which he +plays, well or otherwise, when his daily work is over, or on Sunday +evenings at home. And here a notable characteristic of the Dutch higher +classes must be mentioned by way of contrast. Musical though they are, +trained as they generally are both to play and sing well, they yet seldom +exercise their gifts in a friendly, social, after-dinner way in their own +homes. They become, in fact, so critical or so self-conscious that they +prefer to pay to hear music rendered by recognized artists, and so a by no +means inconsiderable element of geniality is lost to the social and +domestic circle. + +The decay of folk-song is the more regrettable, since Holland is rich in +old ballads, some of which, handed down just as the people used to sing +them centuries ago, are quaint, _naïve,_ and exceedingly pretty. The +melodies have all been put to modern harmonies by able composers, and +published for the use of the public. + + 'Het daghet in het oosten, + Het lichtis overal,' + +is a little jewel of poetic feeling, and the melody is very sweet. The +story, like most of the songs of the past troublous centuries, tells of +a battlefield where a young girl goes to seek her lover, but finds him +dead. So, after burying him with her own white hands, with his sword +and his banner by his side, she vows entrance into a convent. The story +is a picture in miniature of the times, and as a piece of literature it +ranks high. + +Music of some sort finds a place in the homes of the poorest, and the +concert, theatre, and opera are as much frequented by the humble of the +land as by the wealthy and noble born. The servant class on their 'evening +out' frequently go to the French opera, and there is not a boy on the +street but is able to whistle some tune from the great modern operas, such +as 'Faust,' 'Lohengrin,' and other standard works. And no wonder, for the +choristers in the operas walk behind fruit-carts all day long, and often +call out their wares in the musical tones learnt while following their +more select profession as public singers. Some, of course, cannot read a +note of music, and the melodies they have to sing have to be drummed, or +rather trumpeted, into their ears. To this end they are placed in a row, +and a man with a large trumpet stands before them and plays the tune over +and over again until they know it off. In the summer-time whole parties of +these Jewish youths--for Jewish they chiefly are--go about the woods on +their Sabbath day singing the parts they take in the operas in the winter +season, and crowds of people flock to hear them, for their voices are +really well worth listening to. + +Concerts are naturally not so largely patronized by the people as are +operas and theatres. In the larger towns of Holland especially theatricals +take a very prominent place in popular relaxation, and even the smaller +towns and villages, should they lack theatres and be unable to get good +theatrical companies to pay them periodical visits, arrange for dramatic +performances by local talent. The popularity of the opera may be judged +from the fact that at Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen, Arnhem +and Utrecht, operas in Dutch and French are regularly given, and +occasionally works in German and even Italian are produced. Money is +scarce in Holland, the people generally have little to spare, so grand +opera-houses, such as are thought necessary in most European cities of any +pretension to culture, are impossible, and the singers can seldom count on +liberal fees. But most of the best works are heard all the same--which, +after all, is the principal thing--and the enjoyment and edification which +result are not less genuine because of the simplicity of the properties +and the humble character of the entire surroundings. + +Yet outdoor music possesses a powerful attraction for the Dutch humbler +classes, as for the same classes in most, if not all, countries; and when +in the summer-time there is music in the Wood at The Hague on Sunday +afternoons or Wednesday evenings, the walks round about the 'Tent' are +alive with servants and their lovers, parading decorously arm-in-arm. +Happy fathers, too, with their wives and children in Sunday best, +perambulate the grounds or rest on the seats amongst the trees and listen +to the 'Bosch-muziek.' People of the better class only are members of the +'Witte Societeit,' and sit inside the green paling to listen to the music +and drink something meanwhile. For it is strange but true, that a Dutchman +never seems thoroughly to enjoy himself unless he has liquid of some sort +at hand, and never feels really comfortable without his cigar. Indeed, if +smoking were abolished from places of public amusement, most Dutchmen +would frequent them no more. In winter concerts are given every other +Wednesday at The Hague--and what is true of The Hague applies to Amsterdam +and all other towns of any size in the country--and the Public Hall is +always packed; but besides these 'Diligentia' concerts there are others +given by various Singing Societies, so that there is variety enough to +choose from. + +In the summer-time there is another attraction besides the Wood for the +people of The Hague, for the season at Scheveningen opens on the 1st of +June, and there is music at the Kurhaus twice a day--in the afternoon on +the terrace of that building, and in the evening in the great hall inside. +On Friday night is given what is called a 'Symphony Concert.' To this all +the world flocks, for no one who at all respects himself, or esteems the +opinion of society, would venture to miss it. Whether every one +understands or enjoys the high class music given is another question, +which it would be imprudent to press too urgently, but then it belongs to +'education' to go to concerts, and so all enjoy it in their own way. For +the townspeople and the working-classes, who have no free time during the +week, concerts are given at the large Voorhout on the Sunday evenings in +summer, so that on that day even the busiest and poorest may enjoy +recreation of a better kind than the public-house offers them, and this +effort on their behalf is greatly appreciated by the people, who gladly +make use of the opportunities of hearing good and popular music. + +The national love of music is assiduously fostered by the Netherlands +Musical Union, whose branches are to be found all over the country. Every +town has musical and singing societies of some kind--private as well as +public--and these make life quite endurable in winter, even in the +smallest places. Nor do these 'Zangvereenigingen' derive their membership +exclusively from the higher classes, for the humbler folk have +organizations of their own. Even the servant girl and the day-labourer +will often be found to belong to singing clubs of some kind. Music is also +taught at most of the public schools, though it was long before the +Government capitulated upon the point, and gave this subject a place side +by side with drawing as part of the normal curriculum of the children of +the people. + +Happily for the musical and dramatic tastes of the nation, both the +concert and the theatre are cheap amusements in Holland. As a rule, the +dearest seats cost only from 3s. to 5s., while the cheapest, even in +first-class houses at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, cost as little +as sixpence. The only exceptions are when renowned artists tour the +country, and even then the prices seldom exceed £1 for the best places. +There is one musical event which makes a more serious call upon the purse, +and it is the periodical operatic performance of the Wagner Society in +Amsterdam. As a rule, two representations a year are given, and some of +the best singers of Europe are invited to sing in one or other of Wagner's +operas. The best Dutch orchestra plays, and chosen voices from the +Amsterdam Conservatoire take part in the choruses. The scenery is worthy +of Bayreuth itself, and such expense and care are bestowed upon these +choice performances that, though the house is invariably filled on every +occasion, the fees for admission never pay the costs, so that the musical +enthusiasts of Amsterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague regularly make up the +deficit each year, which sometimes amounts to as much as £1000. + +While, however, the Dutch may with truth be classed as a distinctly +musical nation, they would seem to have outlived their fame in the domain +of musical art. For it should not be forgotten that Holland has in this +respect a distinguished history behind it. So long ago as the times of +Pope Adrian I. a Dutch school of music was established under the tuition +of Italian masters, and it compared favourably with the contemporary +schools of other nations. Even in the ninth century Holland produced a +composer famous in the annals of music in the person of the monk Huchbald +of St. Amand, in Flanders. He it was who changed the notation, and +arranged the time by marking the worth of each note, and he is also +remembered for his 'Organum,' the oldest form of music written in +harmonies. It is often lamented that the compositions of to-day lack the +originality which marked the earlier works. The country has none the less +produced some noticeable composers during the past century. Of these J. +Verhuïst, W.F.G. Nicolal, Daniël de Lange, Richard Hol, and G. Mann are +best known, though of no modern composer can it be said that he has any +special 'cachet,' for the younger men, fed as they are on the works of +other nations, grow into their style of thinking and writing, and follow +almost slavishly in their footsteps. It is unfortunate that many rising +composers cannot be persuaded to publish their works. The reason is that +the cost of publishing in the Netherlands is almost fabulous, and if they +do publish them at all it is done in Germany. But even then the +circulation is so limited, owing to the smallness of the country, that it +does not repay the cost; and so they prefer to plod on unknown, or to +cultivate celebrity by giving private concerts of their own works. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +Schools and School Life + + + +If the Dutch peasant is not generally well educated it is not for want of +opportunity, but rather because he has not taken what is offered him. For +many years past a good elementary education has been within the reach of +all. Even the small fees usually asked may be remitted in the case of +those parents who cannot afford to pay anything, without entailing any +civil disability; but attendance at school was only made compulsory by an +Act which passed the Second Chamber in March, 1900, and which, at the time +of writing, has just come into force. It is said that as many as sixty +thousand Dutch children are getting no regular schooling. About one half +of this number live on the canal-boats, and will probably give a good deal +of trouble to those who will administer the new Act; for, as we have +already seen, the families that these boats belong to have no other homes +and are always on the move, so that it must ever be difficult to get hold +of the children, especially as their parents do not see the necessity of +sending them to school. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether any +great improvement will resuit from the new Act, especially as private +tuition may take the place of attendance at a school, and exemption is +granted to those who have no fixed place of abode, and to parents who +object to the tuition given in all the schools within two and a half miles +of their homes. Under these conditions it seems that any one who wishes to +evade the law will have little difficulty in doing so. The canal-boat +people, apparently, are exempt so long as they do not remain for +twenty-eight days consecutively in the same 'gemeente,' or commune. + +The education provided by the State is strictly neutral in regard to +religion and politics, but there are many denominational schools all over +the country. Protestants call theirs 'Bible schools,' and Romanists call +theirs 'Catholic schools,' and both these receive subsidies from the State +if they satisfy the inspectors. Private schools also exist, but do not as +a rule receive State aid. They are all, however, under State supervision +and subject to the same conditions as to teachers' qualifications; and a +very good rule is in force, namely, that no one may teach in Holland +without having passed a Government examination. + +Instruction in the elementary schools supported by Government is in two +grades, though the dividing line is not always clearly drawn. In +Amsterdam, for example, there are four different grades. In the lower +schools the subjects taught are, besides reading, writing, and +arithmetic, grammar and history, geography, natural history and botany, +drawing, singing and free gymnastics, and the girls also learn +needlework, but a large proportion of the pupils are satisfied with a +more modest course, and know little more than the three R's. The children +attending these schools are between six and twelve years of age, though +in some rural districts few of them are less than eight years old, but +according to the new law they must begin to attend when they are seven +and go on until they are twelve or thirteen according to the standard +attained. In the upper grade schools the same subjects are taught in a +more advanced form, with the addition of universal history, French, +German, and English. These languages, being optional, are taught more or +less after regular school hours. + +All the teachers in these schools must hold teachers' or head-teachers' +certificates, to gain which they have to pass an examination in all the +subjects which they are to teach except languages, for each of which a +separate certificate is required. Every commune must have a school, though +hitherto no one has been obliged to attend it, and lately, owing to the +new Education Act, the builders have been busy in many places enlarging +the schools to meet the new requirements. If there are more than forty +children two masters are now necessary, and for more than ninety there +must be at least three. Ten weeks' holidays are allowed in the year, and +these are to be given when the children are most wanted to help at home, +in addition to which leave of absence may be granted in certain cases by +the district inspectors. Holidays, therefore, vary according to the +conditions of a town or village. + +All schools are more or less under State control. They are divided into +three classes according to the type of education which they provide. Lower +or elementary education has already been dealt with. Between this and the +higher education of the 'Gymnasia' and Universities comes what is called +'middelbaar onderwijs'--that is, secondary, or rather intermediate, +education. This is represented by technical or industrial schools, +'Burgher night schools,' and 'Higher burgher schools.' The first named +train pupils for various trades and crafts, more especially for those +connected with the principal local industries. The course is three years +or thereabouts, following on that of the elementary schools, and there is +generally an entrance examination, but the conditions vary in different +communes. Sometimes the instruction is free, sometimes fees are charged +amounting to a few shillings a year, the cost being borne by the communes, +and in a few towns there are similar schools for girls who have passed +through the elementary schools. The technical classes for girls cover such +subjects as fancy-work, drawing and painting of a utilitarian character, +and sometimes book keeping and dress-making. Most of them are free, but +for some special subjects a small payment is required. Drawing seems to be +a favourite subject, and in most of these technical schools there are +classes for mechanical drawing as well as for some kind of artistic work +connected with industry. In addition there are numerous art schools, some +of them being devoted to the encouragement of fine art, while in others +the object kept in view is the application of art to industry. + +The 'Burgher night schools,' like the technical schools, are supported by +the communes in which they are situated. There are about forty of them in +all, and most of them are very well attended, in some cases the regular +students, who are all working men and women, number several hundreds. The +instruction is similar to that given in the technical schools, that is to +say, it is chiefly practical, and local industries receive special +attention. Formerly there were day schools also for working men, on the +same lines as these, but they were not a success, and the technical +schools have taken their place. + +Of a higher class, but still included in the term 'middelbaar onderwijs,' +is the 'modern' education of the 'higher burgher' schools. The majority of +these schools were founded by the communes, the rest by the State, but +internally they are ail alike, and all are inspected by commissioners +appointed by the Government for the purpose. Pupils enter at twelve years +of age, and must pass an entrance examination, which, like nearly every +examination in Holland, is a Government affair. Having passed this, they +attend school for five years, as a rule, but at some of these institutions +the course lasts only three years. In some degree the 'higher burgher' +schools correspond to the modern side of an English school: at least the +subjects are much the same, embracing mathematlcs, natural science, modern +languages and commercial subjects, and no Latin or Greek is taught. The +education is wholly modern and practical, with the object of preparing +pupils for commercial life. There are 'higher burgher' schools for girls +as well as for boys, at which nearly the same education is provided. + +A great advantage of these schools is that they are very cheap; at the +most expensive the yearly fees amount to a little more than thirty pounds, +but at the majority they only come to four or five. To teach in such +schools as these one must have a diploma or a University degree. A +separate diploma is necessary for each subject, and the examination is not +easy. Even a foreigner who wishes to teach his own language must pass the +same examination as a Dutchman. No difference is made between the masters +at the boys' schools and the ladies who teach the girls; exactly the same +diplomas are required in both cases. + +The 'Gymnasia,' to which allusion has been made, are classical schools, +which prepare boys for the Universities. The age of entry is the same as +at the modern schools, twelve; but the course is longer, as a rule +covering six years instead of five, and at the end of this course comes a +Government examination, the passing of which is a necessary preliminary +to a University degree. The 'Gymnasia' were founded by an Act of +Parliament, but are supported by the communes, which in this case are the +larger towns, but they are assisted, as a rule, by a Government grant. The +fees are very small, only about, £8 a year. + +There are a few private and endowed schools, which may send up candidates +for the same examinations as are taken by the pupils of the State schools, +and it is among these that we find the only boarding schools in the +country. Some of these have certain privileges; for instance, the +headmaster may engage assistants who do not hold diplomas, which makes it +easier for him to get native teachers for modern languages; but in the +State schools proper, the selection of undermasters does not rest with the +head, or director, as he is called, at all. Foreign teachers are not very +plentiful, as the diplomas are not easy to get, and a native, who has to +relearn much of his own language from a Dutch point of view, has little or +no advantage over a Dutchman in the examinations. + +No sketch of Dutch schools would be complete without some reference to the +way in which modern languages are studied, for this is the most striking +feature in the national education, and is of great importance when we are +considering the national life and character of Holland. Former generations +of Dutchmen won a place among the 'learned nations' by their knowledge of +the classical languages; and their descendants seem to have inherited the +gift of tongues, but make a more practical use of it. French, German, +English, and Dutch, which go by the name of 'de vier Talen,' or 'the four +languages,' have taken the place of Greek and Latin. In the 'Gymnasia' +every pupil learns to speak them as a matter of course, and in the 'higher +burgher' schools the same languages receive special attention, with a view +to commercial correspondence. Even in the upper elementary schools, boys +and girls are taught some or all of them. A boy entering one of the higher +schools at the age of twelve or thirteen generally has some knowledge of, +at least, one foreign language, acquired either at an elementary school, +or at home, and he is never shy of displaying that knowledge. If his +parents are well off, he has probably learned to speak French or English +in the nursery, and it sometimes happens that he even speaks Dutch with a +French or an English accent, having been brought up on the foreign +language and acquired his native longue later. German as a rule is not +begun so soon, the idea being that its resemblance to Dutch makes it +easier, which is no doubt true to a certain extent. The result, however, +is very often that the easiest language of the three is the one least +correctly spoken. + +As in all Continental countries, there is nothing in Holland corresponding +to the English public school System. The 'Gymnasia' prepare boys for the +Universities, and the 'higher burgher' schools train them for commercial +life and some professions, somewhat in the same way as English modern +schools, but there the resemblance ends. As a rule, a Dutch boy's school +life is limited to the hours he spends at lessons; the rest of the day +belongs rather to home life. There are a few boarding schools in Holland, +but the life in such schools in the two countries is different in almost +every respect. The size of the schools may have something to do with this, +though by itself it is not enough to account for the difference. A Dutch +head-master once drew my attention to the lack of tradition in his own and +other schools in the country, and expressed a hope that time might work a +change. At present there is little sign of such a change. Tradition has +hardly had time to grow up yet, for few of the existing schools are much +more than twenty years old, and its growth is retarded by the small +numbers, which make any widespread freemasonry among old boys impossible. +But there is another and more serious obstacle. The uniform control which +the Government exercises over ail schools alike, State, endowed, or +private, whatever advantages it may have, certainly hinders the +development of that individuality which makes 'the old school,' to many an +English boy, something more than a place where he had lessons to do and +was prepared for examinations. + +A rough sketch of the inside of a Dutch school will doubtless be of +interest. One of the few endowed schools in Holland may be taken as fairly +typical of its class, but not of the State schools, though it competes +with these and combines the classical and modern courses. It lies in the +country, near a small village, and in this respect also differs from the +'Gymnasia' and 'higher burgher' schools, which are ail situated in the +larger towns. + +One of the first things which attracts notice is the large number of +masters. It seems at first that there are hardly enough boys to go round. +This is due to the law, which requires that every master must be qualified +to teach his particular subject either by a University degree or by an +equivalent diploma. Few hold more than two diplomas, and consequently much +of the teaching is done by men who visit this and other schools two or +three times a week. In this particular foundation the three resident +masters are foreigners, but such an arrangement is exceptional. Classes +seldom include more than half a dozen boys, and very often pupils are +taken singly, and therefore each boy receives a good deal of individual +attention. Such a school is divided into six forms or classes, but not +for teaching purposes; the day's work is differently arranged for each +boy, and these classes merely record the results of the last examination. +Some of the lessons last for an hour, but the rest are only three quarters +of an hour long; they make up in number, however, what they lack in +length, amounting to about nine and a half hours a day. Owing to the time +being so much broken up, it may be doubted whether the amount of work done +is any greater here than in an average English school where the aggregate +of working hours is considerably less. Amongst our Dutch friends, however, +and there may be others who share their opinion, the general belief is +that English schoolboys learn very little except athletics. + +With regard to sports and pastimes, these are the only schools in which +any interest is taken or encouragement given therein. Football is played +here on most half-holidays during the winter, and sometimes on Sunday, and +occasionally its place is taken by hockey. It must be admitted that the +standard of play is not very high in either game, though many of the boys +work hard and, with better opportunities, might develop into high-class +players; but as there are only about thirty boys in the school, +competition for places in the teams is not very keen. Rowing has lately +been introduced, not to the advantage of the football eleven. It may be +remarked, by the way, that only Association football is played in Holland; +the Rugby game is strictly barred by head-masters and parents as too +dangerous. Attempts have been made to introduce cricket, but the game +meets with little encouragement. There is a lawn-tennis court, however, +which is constantly in use during the summer term. Bicycling is very +popular, not only here, but in Holland generally; in fact, most of the +boys seem to prefer this form of exercise to any of the games which have +been mentioned. + +Whether at work or play, all the boys are under the constant supervision +of one or other of the resident masters, and the head is not far off. A +few of the seniors are allowed to go outside the grounds when they please, +but the rest may only go out under the charge of a master. In spite of +this apparently strict supervision, however, there is not much real +discipline. Corporal punishment is not allowed; both public opinion and +the law of the land are against it. Other punishments, such as detention +and impositions, are ineffectual, and are generally regarded by the +culprit as unjustly interfering with his liberty. Consequently the masters +have not much hold over the boys, who might, if they chose, perpetrate +endless mischief without fear of painful consequences so long as they did +nothing to warrant expulsion; but the young Hollander does not appear to +have much enterprise in that direction. Perhaps he is sometimes kept out +of mischief by his devotion to the fragrant weed, for he generally learns +to smoke at a tender age, with his parents' consent, and no exception is +taken to his cigar except during lessons; but it is certainly startling to +see the boys smoking while playing their games, as well as on all other +possible occasions. + +A large proportion of the boys at the 'Gymnasia,' perhaps the majority of +them, pass on to the Universities, some to qualify for the learned +professions, others because it is the fashion in Holland as in other +countries for young men who have no intention of following any profession +to spend a few years at a University in search of pleasure and experience; +but the experience in this case is peculiar and unique. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +The Universities + + + +As to the Universities themselves, it is not necessary to consider them +separately, as all four of them, Leyden, Groningen, Utrecht and Amsterdam, +are alike in constitution. They are not residential, there are no +beautiful buildings, there are no rival colleges, no tutors or proctors, +and no 'gate;' nor are they independent corporations like Oxford and +Cambridge and Durham, for, though they retain some outward forms which +recall a former independence, they are now maintained and managed entirely +by the State, which pays the professors and provides the necessary +buildings. The subjects to be taught and the examinations to be held in +the various faculties are laid down by statute. Consequently the +Universities show the same want of individuality as the schools, and, to +an outsider at least, there seems to be nothing of the 'Alma Mater' about +them under the present _régime,_ and no real ground for preferring any one +of them to the others. At the same time, fathers usually send their sons +to the Universities at which they themselves have studied, except when +they and the professors happen to hold very different political opinions, +but such a custom may be due as much to the national love of order and +regularity as to any real attachment to a particular University. As to +the political opinions of professors, their influence on the students +cannot be very great in the majority of cases, being limited to the effect +produced by lectures, for there is no social intercourse between teacher +and taught. The professors, though very learned men, do not enjoy any +great social standing, and the title does not carry with it anything like +the same rank as in some other countries. + +The system on which these Universities work may be a sound and logical one +so far as it goes, and more up-to-date than the English residential +system, which its enemies deride as mediæval and monastic; but it is a +cast iron system, designed with the object of preparing men for +examinations, and one which does nothing to discover promising scholars or +to encourage original work and research among those who have taken their +degrees, or, according to the Dutch phrase, have gained their 'promotion'. +There are no scholarships, nor anything that might serve the same purpose, +though some such institution could hardly find a more favourable soil than +that of Holland. Instruction of a very learned and thorough character is +offered to those who will and can receive it, and that is all. The classes +are open to all who pay the necessary fees, which are trifling, though the +degree of Doctor may only be granted to those who have passed the +'Gymnasium' final or an equivalent examination, and, provided he makes +these payments, a student is free to do as he pleases, so far as his +University is concerned. + +Discipline there is none, except in very rare cases, when the law provides +for the expulsion of offenders; only theological candidates are indirectly +restrained from undue levity by having to get a certificate of good +conduct at the end of their course. There is no chapel to keep, for the +student's religion and morals are entirely his own concern; there are no +'collections,' for if a man does not choose to read he injures no one but +himself by his idleness; and there is no Vice-Chancellor's Court, for in +theory students are on the same footing as other people before the law, +though in practice the police seldom interfere with them more than they +can help. It is not surprising that young men not long from school should +sometimes abuse such exceptional freedom, but their ideas of enjoyment are +rather strange in foreign eyes. One of their favourite amusements seems to +be driving about the town and neighbourhood in open carriages. On special +occasions all the members of a club turn out, wearing little round caps of +their club colours, and accompanied as likely as not by a band, and drive +off in a procession to some neighbouring town, where they dine; in the +night or next morning they return, all uproariously drunk, singing and +shouting, waving flags and flinging empty wine-bottles about the road. I +do not wish to imply that all Dutch students behave in this way, but such +exhibitions are unfortunately not uncommon, and show to what lengths +'freedom' is permitted to go. + +There is a limit, however, even to the liberty of students, as appears +from the following anecdote. One of these young men gave a wine-party in +his lodgings, and some one proposed, by way of a lark, to wake up a young +woman who lived in the house opposite, and fetch her out of bed, so a +rocket was produced and fired through the open window. The bombardment had +the desired effect, but it also set the house on fire, and the joker's +father was called on to make good the damage. Then the police took the +matter up, and the culprit got several weeks' imprisonment for arson, +after which he returned to the University and resumed his interrupted +studies. There was no question of rustication, as the court simply +inflicted the penalty laid down in the Code, and there was no other +authority that had power to interfere in the matter at all. + +As may well be imagined, students are not generally popular with the +townsfolk, who resent the unequal treatment of the two classes, not +because they wish for the same measure of license, but because anything +like rowdiness contrasts strongly with their own habits; and extravagance, +not an uncommon failing among students in Holland or elsewhere, is +absolutely repugnant to the average Dutch citizen. This feeling of +resentment seems to be growing, and has already had some slight effect +upon the civil authorities; if the students find some day that they have +lost their privileged position, they will have only themselves to thank, +and certainly the change will do them no harm. + +But though a certain number go to the Universities merely to amuse +themselves or to be in the fashion, most of them work well, even if they +do not attend lectures regularly all through their course. In some +faculties private coaching offers a quicker and easier way to 'promotion' +than the more orthodox one through the class-rooms. No doubt there are +some who are in no hurry to leave the attractions of student life, but not +many cling to them so persistently as a certain Dutch student, to whom a +relative bequeathed a liberal allowance, to be paid him as long as he was +studying for his degree. He became known as 'the eternal student,' to the +great wrath of the heirs who waited for the reversion of his legacy. For +most men the ordinary course is long enough, for it averages perhaps six +or seven years, though there is no fixed time, and candidates may take the +examinations as soon as they please. The nominal course--that is, the time +over which the lectures extend--varies in the different faculties, from +four years in law to seven or eight in medicine, but very few men manage, +or attempt, to take a degree in law in four years. The other faculties are +theology, science, including mathematics, and literature and philosophy. + +The degree of Doctor is given in these five faculties, and to obtain it +two examinations must be passed, the candidate's and the doctoral. After +passing the latter a student bears the title _doctorandus_ until he has +written a book or thesis and defended it _viva voce_ before the +examiners. He is then 'promoted' to the degree, a ceremony which +generally entails, indirectly, a certain amount of expense. It appears to +be the correct thing for the newly-made doctor to drive round in state, +adorned with the colours of his club and attended by friends gorgeously +disguised as lacqueys, and leave copies of his book at the houses of the +professors and his club fellows, after which he, of course, celebrates +the occasion in the invariable Dutch fashion, with a dinner. Many +students, however, are not qualified to try for a degree, not having been +through the 'Gymnasia,' and others do not wish to do so. Sometimes the +candidate's examination qualifies one to practise a profession, and is +open to all, in other cases, in the faculty of medicine for example, it +gives no qualification, and is only open to candidates for the degree, +but then there is another, a 'professional' examination, for those who do +not aim at the ornamental title. + +The cost of living at the Universities naturally depends very much on the +student's tastes and habits. He pays to the University only 200 florins +(_£16 13s 4d_) a year for four years, after which he may attend lectures +free of charge, so the minimum annual expenditure is small; but it should +be borne in mind that the course is about twice as long as in England. A +good many students live with their families, which is cheaper than living +in lodgings; and as nearly all classes are represented, there is a +considerable difference in their standards of life. Some are certainly +extravagant, as in all Universities, which tends to raise prices, but, on +the other hand, many of them are men whose parents can ill afford the +expense, but are tempted by the value which attaches to a University +career in Holland, and these bring the average down. Between these two +extremes there are plenty who do very well on £150 or so a year, and £200 +is probably considered a sufficiently liberal allowance by parents who +could easily afford a larger sum. Even the students' corps need not lead +to any great expense, as it consists of a number of minor clubs, and +nearly every one joins it, so that the pace is not always the same; +students who wish to keep their expenses down naturally join with friends +who are similarly situated, leaving the more extravagant clubs to the +young bloods who have plenty of money to spare. + +The corps is the only tie which holds the students together where there +are no colleges, and athletics play but a very small part. Each University +has its corps, to which all the students belong except a few who take no +part in the typical student life, and are known as the 'boeven,' or +'knaves.' A Rector and Senate are elected annually from among the members +of four or five years' standing to manage the affairs of the corps. In +order to become a member, a freshman, or 'green,' as he is called in +Holland, has to go through a rather trying initiation, which lasts for +three or four weeks. Having given in his name to the Senate, he must call +on the members of the corps and ask them to sign their names in a book, +which is inspected by the Senate from time to time, and at each visit he +comes in for a good deal of 'ragging,' for, as he may not go away until +he has obtained his host's signature, he is completely at the mercy of his +tormentors. If he does not obey their orders implicitly and give any +information they may require about his private affairs, he is likely to +have a bad time, but as long as he is duly submissive he is generally let +off with a little harmless fooling. One 'green,' a shy and retiring youth, +who did not at all relish the impertinent inquiries which were made into +his morals and family history, was made to stand at the window and give a +full and particular account of himself to the passers-by, with interesting +details supplied by the company. Sometimes, however, the joking is more +brutal and less amusing. For instance, as a punishment for shirking the +bottle, the victim was compelled to kneel on the floor with a funnel in +his mouth, while his tormentors poured libations down his throat. + +When the 'green time' is over the new members of the corps are installed +by the Rector, and drive round the town in procession, finishing up, of +course, with a club dinner. The corps has its head-quarters in the +Students' Club, which corresponds more or less to the 'Union' at an +English University, though differing from the latter in two important +respects: first, there are no debates, and secondly, the members are +exclusively students, for, as I have already noticed, there is no social +intercourse between the professors and their pupils. The reading-rooms at +the club are a favourite lounge of a great many of the students, but it +must be admitted that the literature supplied there is not always of a +very wholesome kind, seeing that it includes 'realism' of the most daring +description, with illustrations to match, and obscene Parisian comic +papers. Every member of the corps also belongs to one of the minor clubs +of which it is made up, and which are apparently nothing more than +messes, very often with only a dozen members, or less. + +A few sport clubs exist, also under the control of the corps, but they do +not play a very prominent part, for the taste for athletic exercises is +confined to a small minority. Considering the small number of players, the +proficiency attained in the exotic games of football and hockey is +surprisingly high. The rowing is even better, and attracts a larger +number, being perhaps more suited to the physical characteristics of the +race than those games for which agility is more necessary than weight and +strength. Boat-races are held annually between the several Universities, +in which the form of the crews is generally very good. If I am not +mistaken, some of the Dutch crews that have rowed at Henley represented +University clubs. The typical student, however, though well enough endowed +with bone and muscle, has no ambition whatever to become an athlete, or to +submit to the fatigue and self-denial of training. Probably the way he +lives and his aversion to athletics, more than the length of his course of +study, account for his elderly appearance, for he is not only obviously +older than the average undergraduate, but begins to look positively +middle-aged both in face and figure almost before he has done growing. + +Before leaving the subject of the students' corps, mention must be made +of the great carnival which each corps holds every five years to +commemorate the foundation of its University. The 'Lustrum-Maskerade,' +which is the chief item in the week of festivities, is a historical +pageant representing some event in the mediæval history of Holland. The +chief actors are chosen from among the wealthiest of the students, and +spare no trouble or expense in preparing their get-up, while the minor +parts are allotted to the various clubs within the corps, each club +representing a company of retainers or men-at-arms in the service of one +of the mock princes or knights. For six days the players retain their +gorgeous costumes and act their parts, even when excursions are made in +the neighbourhood in company with the friends and relatives who come to +join in the commemoration, and the mixture of mediæval and modern +costumes in the streets has a somewhat ludicrous effect. On the first day +the visitors are formally welcomed by the officers of the corps. Former +students of all ages meet their old comrades, and the men of each year, +after dining together, march together to the garden or park where the +reception is held. Anything less like the usual calm and serious +demeanour of these seniors than the way in which they dance and sing +through the town is not to be imagined, for the oldest and most sedate of +them are as wildly and ludicrously enthusiastic as the youngest student; +and their arrival at the reception, with bands of music, skipping about +and roaring student songs like their sons and grandsons, is, to say the +least, comical. But the occasion only comes once in five years, and they +naturally make the most of it. + +The next day the Masquerade takes place, beginning with a procession to +the ground, and is repeated two or three times before huge crowds of +spectators, for the townsmen are as excited as the students and the +relatives, at least on the first two days. Great pains are always taken to +ensure historical correctness in every detail, and the leading parts are +often admirably played, and it must be the unromantic dress of the +lookers-on that spoils the effect and makes one think of a circus. If only +the crowd could be brought into harmony with the masqueraders in the +matter of clothes the illusion might be complete; as it is, one can hardly +imagine for a moment that the knights who charge so bravely down the +lists mean to do one another any serious damage. A tournament is very +often the subject of the pageant, or an important part of it, or sometimes +a challenge and single combat are introduced as a sort of _entr'acte_. For +the last four days of the feast there is no fixed order of procedure; +balls, concerts, garden-parties, and so on are arranged as may be most +convenient, while the intervals are spent in visits, dinners, and drives. +Not until the end of the week does any student lay aside his gay costume +and resume the more prosaic garments of his own times. All through the +week the influence of the corps, which is the life of the University from +the student's point of view, is manifest in the collective character of +all the festivities, everything being done either by the corps itself or +under its direction. From a comparison of this celebration with 'Commem' +week we can, perhaps, gather a very fair idea of the typical points of +difference between the students of Holland and our own country. + + + + +Chapter XV + +Art and Letters + + + +The art of a country is ever in unity with the character of the people. It +reflects their ideas and sentiments; their history is marked in its +progress or decline; and it shows forth the influences that have been at +work in the minds and very life of the nation from which it springs. If +this is true of all countries, it is nowhere so visibly true as in +Holland. There art underwent the most decided changes during the various +periods of war and armed peace through which the little country passed. It +may truly be said that 'the first smile of the young Republic was art, for +it was only after the revolt of the Dutch against the Spanish ... that +painting reached a high grade of perfection.' One is accustomed to take it +for granted too readily that the glory of Dutch art lies in the past; that +the works and fame of a Van Eyck, a Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and +Ruysdael sum up Holland's contribution to the art of the world, and that +this chapter of its history, like the chapters which deal with its +maritime supremacy, its industrial greatness, and its struggles for +liberty, is closed for ever. Nothing could be farther from the fact. Dutch +art was never more virile, more original, more self-conscious than to-day, +when it is represented by a band of men whose genius and enthusiasm +recall the great names of the past. Professer Richard Muther has well +said, in his 'History of Modern Painting,' that, 'so far from stagnating, +Dutch art is now as fresh and varied as in the old days of its glory.' + +The Dutch painters of the present day include, indeed, quite a multitude +of men of the very first rank, and some of them, like the three brothers +Maris, are unexcelled. Jacob Maris, who died so recently as 1890, was +known for his splendid landscapes, and still more for his town pictures +and beach scenes. Willem Maris has a partiality for meadows in which +cattle are browsing in tranquil content. Thys Maris has a very different +style. He paints grey and misty figures and landscapes all hazy and +scarcely visible. His love of the obscure and the suggestive led to the +common refusal of his portraits by patrons, who complained that they +lacked distinctness. No painter, however, commands such large prices as +he, and from £2000 to £3000 is no rare figure for his canvases. + +H. W. Mesdag is Holland's most celebrated sea painter. He pictures the +ever rolling ocean with marvellous power, and carries the song of the +waves and the cry of the wild sea birds into his great paintings, which +speak to one of the life and toil of the fishermen, the never weary +waters, and the ever varying aspects of sea and sky. In this domain he is +unrivalled, and he has certainly done some magnificent work. Mesdag has an +exhibition of his own works every Sunday morning in his studio at The +Hague, and any one who wishes is allowed to visit it, while for the +general public's benefit there is the Mesdag Panorama in the same town. + +Mauve, who died in 1887, was best known for his pastoral scenes. His +pictures of sheep on the moors and fens recall pleasant memories of +summer days and sunny hours. + +Josef Israels went largely to the life of fishermen for his motives, +though one of his best-known works is that noble one, 'David before Saul.' + +Bosboom one naturally associates with church interiors, wonderfully well +done; Blommers, Artz, and Bles likewise paint interiors, the first two +choosing their subjects by preference from the houses of the working +classes, while Bles confines himself to the dwellings of the wealthy. + +Bisschop is unquestionably the best of the Dutch portrait-painters, though +his still life is considered even more artistic than his portraits. The +foremost of the lady portrait and figure painters is Therese Schwartze, +who, like Josselin de Jong, often takes Queen Wilhelmina as a grateful +subject for her brush. + +The foregoing may be regarded as painters of the old school, though every +one has so much originality as to be virtually the initiator of a distinct +direction. The newer schools are represented by men like J. Toorop, +Voerman, Verster, Camerlingh Onnes, Bauer, and Hoytema. + +Toorop is the well-known symbolist. His style is Oriental rather than +Dutch, and his topics for the most part are mystical in character. He is +famous also for his decorative art. This many-sided man is probably the +greatest artist soul in Holland. He is expert in almost every domain of +art. Etching, pastel and water-colour drawing, oil-painting, wood-cutting, +lithography, working in silver, copper, and brass, and modelling in clay, +belong equally to his accomplishments, though as a painter he is, of +course, best known. + +Voerman, once known for his minutely painted flowers, is now a pronounced +landscape painter. His cloud studies are marvellous, though perhaps the +landscape colours are somewhat hard and overdone in the effort to produce +the desired effects. He paints, as a rule, the rolling cumulus, and is one +of the first of the younger artists. + +Verster is known best for his impressionist way of painting flowers in +colour patches, though he has now taken to the minute and mystical method +of representing them. + +Onnes, like Toorop, is a decided mystic, and there is a vein of mysticism +in all his paintings. He is famous for his light effects in glass and +pottery, and has especially a wonderful knack of painting choirs in +churches ail in a dreamy light. + +Bauer is better known, perhaps, by his drawings and etchings than by his +paintings. He paints with striking beauty old churches, temples, and +mosques, generally the exteriors, and the effect of his minute work is +wonderful. Bauer is also one of the finest of Dutch decorative artists. + +Hoytema is known for his illustrations. Animal life is his _forte_, +especially owls and monkeys. + +Among other younger painters who, though not yet of European reputation, +may still be classed with many of the older generation, are Jan Veth and +H. Haverman, both of whom excel in portraits. The lady artists who have +best held their own with the stronger sex include, in addition to those +named, Mme Bilders van Bosse, who paints woods and leafy groves with +striking power; and the late Mme. Vogels-Roozeboom, who found her +inspiration in the flora of Nature. In her day (she died in 1894) she was +the first of floral painters, and whenever she raised her brush the finest +of flowers rose up as at the touch of a magic wand. Second to her, though +not so well known by far, came Mlle W. van der Sande Bakhuizen. + +The Dutch are not only a nation of painters, but a nation of +picture-lovers, though in Holland, as in other countries, one not seldom +sees upon walls from which better would be expected tawdry art, about +which all that can be said is that it was bought cheap. The country +possesses a number of good public galleries, and much is done in this way +and by the frequent exhibition of paintings to foster the love of the +artistic. The principal exhibitions are those of the Pulchri Studio and +the Kunst-kring (Art Circle) at The Hague, and the 'Arti et Amicitia' at +Rotterdam. To become a working member of the Pulchri Studio is counted a +great honour, for the artists who are on the committee are very +particular as to whom they admit into their circle, and they ruthlessly +blackball any one who is at all 'amateurish' or who does not come up to +their high standard. For this reason it is that so many of the younger +artists give exhibitions of their own works as the only way of getting +them at all known. + +Sculpture is not much practised in Holland. It would seem to be an art +belonging almost entirely to Southern climes, although there was a time +when the Dutch modelled busts and heads from snow. The monument of Piet +Hein was originally made of snow, and so much did it take the fancy of the +people of Delftshaven, the place of his birth, that they had a stone +monument erected for him on the place where the one of snow had stood. It +is only recently, however, that sculpture has been re-introduced into +Holland as a fine art, and those artists who have taken it up need hardly +fear competition with their brethren of other Continental countries, for +their names are already on every tongue. The first amongst those who have +shown real power is Pier Pander, the cripple son of a Frisian mat-plaiter, +who came over from Rome (where he had gone to complete his studies) at +the special invitation of the Queen to model a bust of the Prince Consort, +Duke Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Other notable sculptors are Van +Mattos, Ode, Bart de Hove, and Van Wyck. + +There is also another art which is in considerable vogue, and in which +much good work has been done--that of wood-carving. In this the painter +and illustrator Hoytema has shown considerable skill. Needless to say, +Holland is also as famous now as ever for its pottery. Delft ware was ever +the fame of the Dutch nation, though the Rosenbach and Gouda pottery is +now gaining approval. It may be doubted, however, whether the love for the +latter is altogether without affectation. One is inclined to believe that +many of its admirers are enthusiastic to order. They admire because the +leading authorities assure them it is their duty so to do. + +The Netherlands, though very limited in area and small in population, can +also boast of having contributed much that is excellent to the literature +of the world, and in its roll of famous literary men are to be found names +which would redeem any country from the charge of intellectual barrenness. +Spinoza, Erasmus, and Hugo de Groot (Grotius), to name no others, form a +trio whose influence upon the thought of the world, and upon the movements +which make for human progress, has been beyond estimation, and which still +belongs to-day to the imperishable inheritance of the race. + +As illustrating the world-wide fame of Hugo de Groot it is interesting to +note that on the occasion of the Peace Conference held at The Hague in +1899 the American representatives invited all their fellow-delegates to +Delft, and there, in the church of his burial, papers were read in which +the claim of the great thinker to perpetual honour was brought to the +memories of the assembled spokesmen of the civilized world. + +It is with the modern literature and literary movements of Holland, +however, that these pages must concern themselves, and for practical +purposes we may confine ourselves principally to the latter part of the +completed century. For the early part of the nineteenth century was by no +means prolific in literary achievement, and does not boast of many great +names, if one disregards the writers whose lives linked that century with +its predecessor, like Betjen Wolff and Agatha Deken. When, in 1814-15, +Holland again became a separate kingdom, that important event failed to +mark a new era in Dutch literature. Strange to say, though the political +changes of the time powerfully influenced the sister arts of music and +painting, which show strong traces of the transition of that crisis in the +nation's history, upon literature they had no effect whatever. Before 1840 +no very brilliant writers came to the front, though the period was not +without notable names, such as Willem Bilderdijk, Hendrik C. Tollens, and +Isaac da Costa, all of whom possessed a considerable vogue. Bilderdijk's +chief claim to fame is the fact that he wrote over 300,000 lines of verse, +and regarded himself as the superior of Shakespeare; Tollens had a name +for rare patriotism, and wrote many fine historical poems and ballads; +while Da Costa, who was a converted Jew, had to the last, in spite of a +considerable popularity as a poet, to contend with the oftentimes fatal +shafts of ridicule. + +A new period opened, however, about 1840, in the _Gids_ movement promoted +by E.J. Potgieter and R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink, who were editors of +the _Gids_ and the severest of literary critics. The _Gids_ was the Dutch +equivalent of the _Edinburgh Review_ under Jeffrey, and its criticisms +were so much dreaded by the nervous Dutch author of the day that the +magazine received the name of 'The Blue Executioner,' blue being the +colour of its cover. If, however, Potgieter and Bakhuizen were unsparing +in the use of the tomahawk, the service which they rendered to Dutch +letters by their drastic treatment of crude and immature work was healthy +and lasting in influence, for it undoubtedly raised the tone and standard +of literary work, both in that day and for a long time to come, and so +helped to establish modern Dutch literature on a firm basis. Perhaps the +foremost figure in the literary revival which followed was Conrad Busken +Huet, unquestionably the greatest Dutch critic of the last century, whose +book 'Literary Criticisms and Fancies,' which contains a discriminating +review of all writers from Bilderdijk forward, is essential to a thorough +study of Dutch literature during the nineteenth century. Huet also +emancipated literature from the orthodoxy in thought which had +characterized the earlier Dutch writers, especially by his novel +'Lidewyde.' + +No novelist has more truly reflected the old fashioned ideas and simple +home life of Holland than Nicholas Beets, who still lives and even writes +occasionally, though almost a nonagenarian. His 'Camera Obscura,' which +has been translated into English, entitles Beets to be recognized as the +Dickens of Holland, and his two novels, 'De Familie Stastoc' and 'De +Familie Kegge,' are familiar to every Dutchman. The historical novelists, +Jacob van Lennep and Mrs. Bosboom Toussaint, should not be overlooked. + +One of the foremost Dutch poets of the century is Petrus Augustus de +Génestet. Although he is not free from rhetoric, and frequently uses old +and worn-out similes, his general view of things is wider and his feeling +deeper than those of any of his contemporaries in verse. The contrast, for +example, between him and Carel Vosmaer, though they belong to the same +period, is very striking, for while the poetry of Génestet is full of +feeling and ideality, that of Vosmaer is unemotional; and though he +dresses his thoughts in beautiful words, the impression left upon the mind +after reading his poetry is that which might be left after looking at a +gracefully modelled piece of marble--it is fine as art, but cold and dead, +and so awakens no responsive sympathy in the mind of the beholder. + +But the greatest of modern Dutch authors, and the one who may be termed +the forerunner of the renaissance of 1880, was E. Douwes Dekker, who died +thirteen years ago. Dekker had an eventful career. He went to the Dutch +Indies at the age of twenty-one, and there spent some seventeen years in +official life, gradually rising to the position of Assistant Resident of +Lebac. While occupying that office his eyes were opened to the defective +System of government existing in the Colonies, and the abuses to which the +natives were subjected. He tried to interest the higher officials on +behalf of the subject races, but as all his endeavours proved unavailing +he became disheartened, and, resigning his post, returned to Holland with +the object of pleading in Government circles at home the cause which he +had taken so deeply to heart. As a deaf ear was still turned to all his +entreaties he decided, as a last resource, to appeal for a hearing at the +bar of public opinion. He entered literature, and wrote the stirring story +'Max Havelaar,' in which he gave voice to the wrongs of the natives and +the callous injustices perpetrated by the Colonial authorities. The book +made a great sensation, and has unquestionably had very beneficial results +in opening the public's eyes to some of the more glaring defects of +Colonial administration. + +In 1880 Dutch literature entered upon an entirely new phase. The chief +authors of the movement then begun were Lodewryk van Deyssel, Albert +Verwey, and Willem Kloos, who in the monthly magazine, _De Nieuwe Gids_, +exercised by their trenchant criticisms the same beneficial and +restraining influence upon the literature of the day as Potgieter and +Bakhuizen did forty years before. The columns of the _Nieuwe Gids_ were +only opened to the very best of Dutch authors, and any works not coming up +to the editors' high ideas of literary excellence were unmercifully +'slated' by these competent critics. Independence was the prominent +characteristic of the authors of the period. They shook themselves free +from the old thoughts and similes, and created new paths, in which their +minds found freer expression. The new thoughts demanded new words, hence +came about the practice of word-combination, which was in direct defiance +of the conservative canons of literary style which had hitherto prevailed, +so that nowadays almost every author adds a new vocabulary of his own to +the Dutch language, so enhancing the charm of his own writings and adding +to the literary wealth of the nation in general. + +The poetess whom Holland to-day most delights to honour is Helena Lapidoth +Swarth, whose works increase in worth and beauty every year. Her command +of the Dutch language and her power of wresting from it literary resources +which are unattainable by any other writer have made her the admiration of +all critics of penetration. Louis Couperas is also another living poet of +mark, who, however, does not confine himself to formal versification, for +his prose is also poetry. His best works are 'Elme Vere,' the first book +he wrote, and the characters in which are said to have been all taken from +life, and his novels 'Majesty' and 'Universal Peace,' which have gained +for him a European reputation, for they have been translated into most +modern languages. + +Women authors who have written works with a special tendency are Cornelie +Huygens, who is known particularly by her novel 'Barthold Maryan;' Mrs. +Goekoop de Jong, who champions the cause of women's rights; and Anna de +Savornin Lohman, who, in a striking book entitled, 'Why question any +longer?' has written very bitterly against the political conditions of the +circle of society in which she moves. + +While the authors of the present day are beneficially leavening popular +opinion by inculcating higher and healthier sentiments, there are also +authors in Holland, as elsewhere, who debase good metal, and write from a +purely material standpoint. To this class of authors belong Marcellus +Emants and Frans Netcher. + +Of Dutch dramatic writers, Herman Heyermans is one of the most noteworthy, +and some of his plays have been translated into French, and produced in +Paris theatres. + +It is a great drawback to literary effort in Holland that the _honoraria_ +paid to authors are so low that most writers who happen not to be +pecuniarily independent--and they are the majority--are unable to make a +tolerable subsistence at home by the pen alone, and are obliged to +contribute to foreign publications, and some even resort to teaching. Many +Dutch authors of high rank write anonymously in English, French, and +German magazines, and probably earn far more in that way than by their +contributions to Dutch ephemeral literature, for the ordinary fee for a +sheet of three thousand words--which is the average length of a printed +sheet in a Dutch magazine--is only forty francs. + +The pity is that Dutch literature itself is not known as well as it +deserves to be, for any one who takes the trouble to master the Dutch +language will find himself well repaid by the treasures of thought which +are contained in the modern authors of Holland. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +The Dutch as Readers + + + +Although printing was not invented in Holland, the nation would not have +been unworthy of that honour, for there is a widespread culture of the +book among all classes of the population, and the newspaper and periodical +press makes further a very large contribution to its intellectual food. +Nearly two thousand booksellers and publishers are engaged in the task of +bringing within easy reach of their customers everything they wish to +read. It is no unusual thing to find a decently equipped retail bookshop +in quite unimportant townlets, and even in villages. By an admirable +arrangement every publisher sends parcels of books for the various +retailers all over the country to one central house in Amsterdam--'het +Bestelhuis voor den Boekhandel' (the Booksellers' Collecting and +Distributing Office). In this establishment the publishers' parcels are +opened, and all books sent by the various publishers for one retailer are +packed together and forwarded to him, by rail, steamer, or other cheap +mode of conveyance. In consequence, any doctor, clergyman, or schoolmaster +can receive a penny or twopenny pamphlet in his out-of-the-way home, as +well as any book or periodical from London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, etc., +within a remarkably short time, without trouble, and without extra +expense in postage, by simply applying to the local bookseller. + +The Dutch are very cosmopolitan in their reading. Many children of the +superior working classes learn French at the primary schools; most +children of the middle class pick up English and German as well at the +secondary schools, and a large proportion of them are able to talk in +these three foreign languages; and as opportunities for intercourse are +not over-abundant in the smaller towns, they keep up their knowledge of +these languages by reading. Indeed, the five millions of Dutchmen are, +relatively, the largest buyers of foreign literature in Europe. The +translator, however, comes to the rescue of those who succeed in +forgetting so much of their foreign languages that they find reading them +a very mitigated enjoyment. This question of translation is rather a sore +point in the relations between Dutch and foreign authors and publishers. +The pecuniary injury done to foreign authors, however, is very slight, +while in reputation they have benefited; for if Dutch private libraries +are not without their Shakespeare, Motley, Macaulay, Dickens, Thackeray, +Kingsley, Browning, not to mention French and German classics, this is +mainly due to the fact that the parents of the present generation had the +opportunity of buying Dutch translations, and explained to their children +the value and the beauty of these works. + +Moreover, most authors and publishers in foreign countries, using +languages with world-wide circulation, are apt to miscalculate the profits +made by Dutch publishers, with their very limited market and limited sale. +A royalty of £5 for the right of translating some novel would be regarded +as a contemptibly small sum in the English book world, but £5 in Dutch +currency presses heavily on the budget of a Dutch translation, of which +only some hundred or so copies can be sold at a retail price of not quite +five shillings, and is an almost prohibitive price to pay for the +copyright of a novel which is only used as the _feuilleton_ of a local +paper with an edition of under a thousand copies a week. As a fact, many +Dutch publishers pay royalties to their foreign colleagues as soon as the +publication is important enough to bear the expense; but the majority +clearly will only give up their ancient 'right' of free translation, and +agree to join the Berne Convention, if a practicable way can be found out +of the financial difficulty. For the present, then, the Dutch are +cosmopolitan readers, direct or indirect. In the average bookseller's shop +one finds, of course, a majority of novels--novels of all sorts and +conditions--supplemented by literary essays and poems. In a number of +cases the bookseller is not merely a shopkeeper who deals in printed +matter, and supplies just what his customers ask for, but a man of +education and judgment, who is well able to give his opinion on books and +authors. Often he has read them, though oftener, of course, he is guided +by the leading monthly and weekly magazines and reviews, and by the +publishers' columns of the leading daily newspapers. The bookseller is +thus in many cases the trusted manager and guiding spirit of one or more +'Leesgezelschappen,' or 'Reading Societies.' These societies have a +history. At the end of the eighteenth century they were often political +and even revolutionary bodies. The members or subscribers met to discuss +books, pamphlets, and periodicals, but frequently they discussed by +preference the passages in the books bearing upon political conditions, +and argued improvements which they considered desirable or necessary. As +time passed by, and free institutions became the possession of the Dutch, +the political mission of the Reading Society became exhausted, but the +institution itself survived, and continues to the present day. + +The 'Leesgezelschap' owes its special form to another peculiarity of the +Dutch--their intensely domesticated, home-loving character. Family life, +with its fine and delicate intimacies between husband and wife, between +parent and children, is the most attractive feature of national existence +in the Netherlands. Family life is, indeed, the centre from which the +national virtues emanate, because there the individual members educate +each other in the practice of personal virtues. The Dutchman is not +constitutionally reserved and shy; he knows how to live a full, strong, +public life; he never shrinks from civic duties and social intercourse; +but his love of home life takes the first place after his passion for +liberty and independence. Club life in Holland is insignificant, and few +clubs even attempt to create a substitute for home life; they are merely +used for friendly intercourse for an hour or so every day, and as +better-class restaurants. A Dutchman prefers to do his reading at home, in +the domestic circle, with the members of his family, or in his study if he +follows some scientific occupation, and his 'Leesgezelschap' affords him +the opportunity of doing this. There are military, theological, +educational, philological, and all sorts of scientific reading societies, +besides those for general literature. They work on the co-operative +System. The manager is in many cases a local bookseller, buying Dutch and +foreign books, magazines, reviews, illustrated weeklies and pamphlets in +one or more copies, according to the number, the tastes, and the wants of +the members. Most societies take in books and periodicals in four +languages--Dutch, French, German, English--and so their members keep +themselves well acquainted with the world's opinion. And all this, be it +added, costs the subscriber vastly less than the fees of English +circulating libraries, with their restricted advantages and heavy expenses +of delivery. + +Between the book and the newspaper lies a form of literature which is +specifically Dutch--the 'Vlugschrift,' _brochure_, or pamphlet. The +_brochure_ is an old historical institution. In the eighteenth century it +was very popular as a vehicle for the zeal of fiery reformers who thus +vented their opinions on burning political questions of the day. There is +no necessity nowadays for these small booklets, so easily hidden from +suspicions eyes, though the _brochure_ is still used whenever, in stirring +speech or impassioned sermon, Holland's leading men address themselves to +the emotions of the hour. These _brochures_, as a rule, cost no more than +sixpence, yet, none the less, the thrifty Dutch have 'Leesgezelschappen' +which buy and circulate them among their subscribers; they take everything +from everybody, never caring whose opinions they read upon the various +subjects of current interest, a trait which evidences a very praiseworthy +lack of bias. + +This lack of bias is not so obvions so far as newspaper reading is +concerned. Like other people, the Dutch take such newspapers as defend or +represent their own political opinions, and often affect towards journals +on the other side a contemptuous indifference which is only half real. + +Political parties in Holland differ slightly from those of Great Britain, +except that in the former country politics and religion go together. Thus +in Holland a Liberal who at the same time is not advanced in religious +thought hardly exists, and would scarcely be trusted. In consequence the +Liberals were not defeated at the last general elections because they were +Liberals, but because their opponents (the Anti-Revolutionists and Roman +Catholics) denounced them as irreligious and atheistical. In political +strife the religious controversy takes the form of an argument for and +against the influence of religious dogma upon politics and education. + +Now, as far as journalism goes, the Liberal and Radical newspapers +unquestionably take the lead. The Roman Catholics are like the +Anti-Revolutionists, very anxious to provide their readers with wholesome +news, but this anxiety is not successfully backed up by care that this +wholesome news shall be early as well; hence their journalism is somewhat +behind the times. Of most of the progressive newspapers it may be said +that the whole of the contents are interesting; as to the rest, they are +only interesting because of the leading articles, which are sometimes +written by eminent men. + +As far as circulation goes, _Het Nieuws van den Dag_ can boast to be the +leading journal, its edition running to nearly 40,000 copies a day. Up to +the present its editors have been advanced, or 'Modern,' Protestant +clergymen, in the persons of Simon Gorter, H. de Veer, and P.H. Ritter. +Although not taking a strong line in politics, its inclinations are +decidedly towards moderate Liberalism, and, thanks to its cheap +price--14s. 6d. per annum--its extensive, prudently and carefully selected +and worded supply of news, and its sagacious management, it became the +family paper of the Dutch, excellently suiting the quiet taste of the +middle class of the nation. It is found everywhere save in those few +places where the Roman Catholic Church has sufficient influence to get it +boycotted. The _Nieuws_, as it is generally called, gives from +twenty-four to thirty-two, and even more, pages of closely printed matter, +of which the advertisements occupy rather over than under half. One does +not see it read in public more than any other Dutch paper, and two reasons +account for this. One is the fact that, as has been said, a Dutchman +prefers to do his reading at home--'met een boekje, in een hoekje' ('with +my book in a quiet corner') is the Dutchman's ideal of cosy literary +enjoyment. Then, too, Dutch newspaper publishers prefer a system of safe +quarterly subscriptions to the chance of selling one day a few thousand +copies less than the other, since even the largest circulation in Holland +is too limited for risky commercial vicissitudes. Hence they make the +price for single numbers so high that only the prospect of long hours in a +railway-carriage frightens a Dutchman into buying one or more newspapers. + +The _Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant_ is another typical Dutch newspaper, but +appealing to quite other instincts than the _Nieuws._ In their quiet way +the Dutch are rather proud of their _Nieuwe Kotterdammer_, which inspires +something like awe for its undeniable, but slightly ponderous, virtues. +The _Nieuwe Rotterdammer_ is absolutely Liberal, and stands no Radical or +Social Democratic nonsense; its leading articles are lucid, cool, logical, +and to the point; it has correspondents everywhere, at home and abroad; +and all staunch Liberals of a clear-cut, even dogmatic type, who love Free +Trade and look upon municipal and State intervention as pernicious, swear +by it. The present chief editor is Dr. Zaayer, formerly a Liberal member +of the Second Chamber of the States-General, a shrewd, well-read Dutchman, +with a splendid University education; and the manager, J.C. Nijgh, is as +clever a man of business as Rotterdam can produce. As far as it is +possible to lead Dutchmen by printed matter, the _Nieuwe Rotterdammer_ +does it. Its supply of news is so fresh and so reliable that everybody +reads it, even the Roman Catholics in North Brabant and Limburg, Holland's +two Catholic counties. + +The next important newspaper is _Het Algemeen Handelsblad_ of Amsterdam, +which is peculiarly the journal of the Amsterdam merchants, shipowners, +and traders. The _Handelsblad_ is not so exclusively Liberal as its +competitor in Rotterdam, for its inclinations are of a more advanced turn, +and it is always ready to admit rather Radical articles on social matters +if written by serious men. Its chief editor is Dr. A. Polak, of whom it is +said that what he does not know about the working and meaning of the Dutch +constitution and the Dutch law is hardly worth knowing. His articles +display a calm, sound, scientific brain and an honest, straightforward +mind. Its managing editor is Charles Boissevain, whose contributions to +the paper, entitled 'Van Dag tot Dag' ('From Day to Day'), are equally +admirable for brilliancy of style, broadness of spirit, and the manly +outspokenness of their contents. This journal has likewise an extensive +staff and a huge army of correspondents at home and abroad. + +A third Liberal journal of growing influence is the Radical _Vaderland_, +of which the late Minister of the Interior, Mr. H. Goeman Borgesius, now a +member of the Second Chamber, was chief editor during many years, though +there no longer exists any personal connexion between the two, and the +_Vaderland_ is, if anything, more advanced in politics than its former +editor. Its chief influence is at The Hague, formerly a stronghold of +Conservatism, until the Conservative party disappeared entirely. + +Other Liberal, Radical, and Social Democratic newspapers are published +all over the country, the most important and influential being the +Liberal-democratic _Arnhemsche Courant._ + +Mr. Troelstra, one of the Socialist leaders, edits a daily, _Het Volk_ +('The People'), a well-written party newspaper, whose influence, however, +does not extend beyond its party. + +Professor Abraham Kuyper, leader of the Anti-Revolutionist or Calvinist +party, the largest but one in the country, was editor of the _Standaard_ +until he became President Minister of the Netherlands. In opposition to +the Liberal principle, as formulated by the Italian reformer Cavour, 'A +Free Church in a Free State,' he maintains that the Bible, being God's +Word, is the only possible basis for any State, and holds that the King +and the Government derive their power and authority not from the people, +but from God. His _Standaard_ is another proof that whatever this +universal genius does bears the unmistakable stamp of his power and +personality. One may be thoroughly opposed to his principles, but nobody +can help admiring the sterling merit of his leading articles. If Kuyper +writes or speaks upon any subject under the sun, you will be sure to find +him thoroughly acquainted with it; but then his turn of mind is so +original and his style is so brilliant, that he discloses points of view +which give it fresh interest to those who most cordially disagree with +him. The brilliancy of his journalistic powers is not confined, however, +to his leaders. The _Standaard_ has another and more purely polemical +feature, its 'Driestars'--short paragraphs, separated in the column by +three asterisks, whence their name. These 'Driestars' are the pride and +the wonder of the Dutch Press, on account of their trenchant, clever, +courageous wording, a wording which is sure to incite the opponent to +bitter defence or fiery attack, and to provide the adherent with an +argument so finely sharpened and polished that he delights in the +possession of so excellent a weapon. + +Dr. Kuyper's political opponent in the Calvinist party is Mr. A. F. de +Savornin Lohman, the leader of the aristocrats, whereas Kuyper is the head +of the 'kleine luyden'--the humble toilers of the fields and towns. Mr. +Lohman was a member of the first Calvino-Catholic Cabinet, and is still a +great power in his party; in consequence his _Nederlander_ exerts some +influence, though not nearly so much as the _Standaard_. + +The two most prominent Roman Catholic newspapers are the Conservative +_Tyd_ ('Time') and the somewhat democratic _Centrum_. Both are party +papers pure and simple, and are excellently edited, so far as party +politics are concerned, by clever, well educated, well read men. The +_Centrum_ frequently enjoys the co-operation of Dr. Herman Schaepman, the +priest-poet, whose somewhat ponderous eloquence is agreeably relieved by a +glowing enthusiasm and a refreshing force of conviction. + +Kuyper, Boissevain and Schaepman are, indeed, three journalists of whom +any country might be proud. Their style, their individuality, and their +mental power are equally remarkable, and though living and working in +different grooves of life, using different modes of thought, and +cherishing different ideals, they powerfully impress and influence their +readers by the purity of their aims, the honesty of their convictions, and +the chivalry of their controversial methods. But of the three Boissevain +is the only one who is a journalist for the sake of journalism. Yet +neither Calvinist nor Catholic journal tries to compete with the _Nieuwe +Rotterdammer_ or the _Handelsblad_ in the publication of original and +high-class information. They aim rather at providing their readers with +the necessary party arguments, and the news is a matter of secondary +importance. + +As to the provinces in general, of the 1300 towns and villages of Holland, +nearly 300 are the happy possessors of a local newspaper of some +description, and altogether 1700 daily and weekly journals, devoted +variously to the representation of political, clerical, mercantile, +scientific, and other interests, are published in the whole country. + +The Dutch like to see more than one newspaper, but the majority of people +cannot afford to be dual subscribers, and a great many cannot even afford +to buy a single news-sheet regularly. Hence agencies exist for circulating +the papers from one reader to another. Those who receive them straight +from the publisher pay most, and those who are contented to enjoy their +news when one, two, or three days old pay but a small fee. The newspaper +circulating agency is very general in Holland, and in centres of +restricted domestic resources it plays a very useful place in social and +political life. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +Political Life and Thought + + + +Holland is a democratic kingdom. Democracy was born there in the sixteenth +century, and is still unquestionably thriving. But democracy was born in +peculiar circumstances; it was reared by men whose ideas of democracy +differed, for, while the leaders of the nation consistently worked for +popular government, they did not all or always mean exactly the same thing +by the word 'people,' and hence did not aim at exactly the same goal. The +French Revolution of the eighteenth century upset the outward form of the +Dutch Commonwealth; it did away with ancient and more or less obsolete +fetters, which proved no longer strong enough to support the growth of +political life, though still sufficiently strong to hinder it. It could do +nothing for, and add nothing to, the profound love of liberty and the +passion for independence which are dearer to every Dutchman than life +itself, but it could and did extend the blessing of political and +religious freedom to a greater number of people. Love of liberty brought +about the disestablishment of the Church, and love of toleration made +Holland follow this measure in the fifties by the emancipation of the +Roman Catholics. + +Every one who is acquainted with Dutch history understands that these two +things have as much meaning for Dutch political as for Dutch religious +life. But side by side with religious and political freedom came also +economic freedom. The guilds were abolished, and so the bonds by which the +handicrafts had been prevented from moving with the movements of the +times, and thus of living a healthy life, were swept away. The social +revolution acted like the doctor who enters a close and stuffy sick-room +and throws open the windows and door, so that the invalid may get the very +first necessity of life--fresh air. So it was with a sigh of relief that +the Dutch--and not they alone--said, 'No State interference in matters of +trade and industry, let us keep open the windows and doors!' + +No doctor, however, will compel his patient to live in a constant draught, +winter and summer, since upon one occasion a liberal admission of fresh +air was necessary to save that patient's life. There can be no doubt that +during the nineteenth century the doors and windows were kept open rather +too long. The great employers of labour were strong enough to stand the +draught, for centuries of prosperity had made them a powerful class; but +their men had no such advantages, and they were worse off when steam power +brought about another revolution by creating the so-called system of +'capitalistic production' and the growth of the large industries. Hence it +comes about that Holland, like all civilized countries, is now trying to +find out how far the windows and the doors must be closed, so as to allow +the men to live as well as the masters. This, in few words, characterizes +Dutch party politics from the social and economic side. + +Political parties in the Netherlands obviously differ not only in their +views upon political, religious, and economic issues, but also as to the +degree of precedence to be allowed to each of these three departments of +national life and thought. The Liberals say, "Politics first; if these are +sound and religion and commerce are free, everything will be right." The +Social Democrats reply, "Politics only concern us as a means of obtaining +real and substantial economic liberty and material equality; religion does +not affect us at all, and certainly does not help to solve the practical +problems of human life." Differing from both, the Anti-Revolutionists +assert, "Whosoever leaves the firm ground of God's Word, the Holy +Scriptures, as the only true basis for public and private action, can have +neither sound politics nor sound economics." The Roman Catholics also put +religion on the first plane, but they are in the most difficult position +of all. They are a minority, even a decreasing minority, and know +perfectly well that they will never be a majority; so they recognize that +in the first place they must try to be good Dutchmen, faithful, loyal +citizens of the State, while in the second place they must not give up one +single ideal of their Church. Their faith in the eternal existence of +their ecclesiastic system enables them on the one hand to be patient and +to wait, just as on the other hand it teaches them not to sit still, but +to act, to work, either by themselves or conjointly with any party that +may assist them to realize, or even to get nearer to, any of their +religious ideals. + +When the Liberals, in the middle of the nineteenth century, did an act of +great toleration by emancipating the Roman Catholic Church, the +Protestants threw over the Liberal Cabinet, and the Liberal leader, +Thorbecke, was returned to Parliament by the most Catholic town of +Holland, Maestricht, in Limburg. But afterwards the Anti-Revolutionists +raised the cry for denominational education, and the Dutch Liberals were +rather sore to find their former friends join their antagonists. The +soreness was in consequence of a miscalculation; the Liberals had +forgotten that in becoming emancipated the Roman Catholics did not become +Liberals, but remained Roman Catholics as before, faithful to their creed, +and to their ideals, even at the cost of political friendship. + +The common ground upon which Anti-Revolutionists and Roman Catholics meet +is the conviction that religion must in everything be the starting-point. +The Anti-Revolutionists take the Scriptures as such; the Roman Catholics +accept the Pope's decisions, given _ex cathedrâ_, as inspired by the Holy +Spirit and transmitted to him by Conclaves and Councils. For the rest, +Rome's creed is sheer idolatry to the Anti-Revolutionist Protestants, +whereas Rome looks upon ail Protestants as lost heretics. But both, again, +consider such Protestants--the so-called 'Moderns'--who reject the +Trinity, the miracles, the Divine origin of the Bible, and certain other +dogmas, as simple atheists, and as most 'Moderns' are Liberals, and +_vice-versâ_, they proclaim the Liberal State to be an atheistic State. + +Strictly speaking, there is really no Conservative party in Holland, for +it ceased to exist in the beginning of the seventies. After Thorbecke gave +Holland the Liberal constitution of 1848, the Conservatives tried for a +time to obstruct the country's political development, but ultimately they +gave up the attempt, and their best and ablest men, Mr. J. Heemsherk Azn +and Earl C. Th. van Lynden van Sandenburg, headed Liberal Cabinets as men +professing very moderately progressive views, yet openly opposed to the +restoration of the somewhat autocratic and aristocratic conditions which +prevailed before 1848 in consequence of the reaction against the chaotic +era of the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet though there is +no Conservative party in Holland, there are, none the less, Conservatives +in every party. + +The Liberal party counts three sections, the Old Liberals, the +Radico-Liberals, and the Liberal Democrats. The Old Liberals adhere to +Thorbecke's principles, and maintain that it is the primary business of a +Liberal State to promote individuality and to create on this basis the +general conditions by which social development can be achieved. According +to them the State has no right to interfere in everything, to cure +everything, to provide everything, as the collectivist would like; on the +contrary, its first duty is abstinence--simply to preserve a fair field +and to show no favour. These Old Liberals, in fact, regard the State as a +legal corporation which exists merely to administer justice and to guard +the constitutional rights of its citizens. + +Their political friends and next-of-kin are the Radico-Liberals of the +'Liberal Union,' who form, for the present, the bulk of the party. They +admit the value of individual energy and enterprise, and hold that +unlimited scope must be allowed to these; they even contend that, on the +whole, the system of unfettered individualism proved to be more in the +workman's favour than the opposite; but they also admit that this +condition is not such as it might and ought to be, and in consequence they +do not object to social legislation wherever individual efforts fail. + +The advanced Liberal Democrats ('de Vryzinnige Democraten') differ +fundamentally from both the foregoing parties. They give prominence to +political rights and franchises, and hence fall foul of a leading clause +(clause 80) of the constitution, which confers electoral powers upon only +such adult male inhabitants as 'possess characteristics of capability and +prosperity.' The members of the 'Liberal Union' admit that the requirement +of a certain measure of prosperity withholds from numbers of citizens the +right to influence their country's affairs by their votes. They admit also +that the constitution ought to be altered on this point, but they doubt +whether it is sound practical politics to put this item in the foreground. +They say, in effect, 'We can quite well provide the country with adequate +social legislation either with or without the help of the disfranchised +section of the population, for if we propose measures dealing with social +problems, even the more Conservative amongst us will not object, and those +measures will come on the statute book. But there is not the slightest +chance that we shall ever get the Old Liberals to give the franchise to +poor and destitute people, who have no financial stake whatever in the +country. So by insisting upon adult suffrage you merely postpone social +legislation indefinitely. Moreover, the object of our social legislation +can only be to make the poorer class more capable and more prosperous, and +as soon as that end is gained they get the franchise automatically, +without any change of the constitution.' To this the Liberal Democrats +reply: 'Social legislation must not be regarded as a grudgingly admitted +necessity, it is the paramount duty of the State, and as social +legislation principally affects those who are now disfranchised, it is +only just to begin by affording them the opportunity of expressing their +opinions upon the subject, and hence to alter the constitution so as to +give them votes, for they know best what they want.' + +The Liberal Democrats deny, in fact, that the State can make any laws that +do not affect the social life as well as the legal position of its +citizens, and contend that those who hold that natural laws rule the +social relations of man with man, and that on this ground the State ought +to refrain from interference, merely allow the State to protect the +stronger against the weaker classes, whereas its duty is the contrary. +Positive interference in social matters is, according to them, the State's +duty, and it may only refrain when the free operation of social forces +creates no conditions or relationships which offend modern ideas of +justice and equity. + +The Democrats have, unquestionably, by their secession, greatly crippled +the strength of the Liberal party, and it will be long before the younger +generation of Liberals can take the places thus vacated and a rejuvenated +and unanimous party can issue from the present dissensions. + +The only other political party in Holland who do not accept religion as +the one safe starting-point for politics are the Social Democrats. When +the German Socialists of the school of Marx discovered how the sudden +development of steam and machinery was followed by a vast amount of +distress amongst the labouring classes, affecting also such of the lower +middle class as principally traded with workpeople, they at once jumped +at the conclusion that the same thing was bound to go on for ever. +Perhaps it was with a feeling of despair, therefore, that the father of +Dutch Social Democracy, F. Domela Nieuwenhuys, gradually drifted into +anarchism, or, as he prefers to call it, Free Socialism, and finally +abandoned all political action. The younger generation, led by F. van der +Goes, H. van Kol, and, last but not least, P. J. Troelstra, still +vigorously carry on the fray, however, and a very considerable number of +Dutch workmen follow them. Their ambition is to conquer political power +in Holland, and as soon as they have it to revolutionize, not the +country, but the statute-book, in such a manner that they may acquire the +economic power as well. Of course, they wish to abolish individual +property in all the means of production, and to make the State the owner +of all these; and it is their hope that a general love for the +commonwealth, and zeal for the general welfare of all, may take the place +of the present egotism and sordid pursuit of wealth. + +[Illustration: Parliament House at the Hague. View from the Great Lake.] + +The Anti-Revolutionists also have their Conservatives and Progressives. +Dr. Kuyper always speaks of a 'Left' and a 'Right' wing of his party, and +as the Conservative 'Right' is largely composed of the members of the +Dutch nobility, he once sneeringly called this fraction 'the men with the +double names.' Their proper title is 'Free Anti-Revolutionists,' and their +leader, Jhr. A.F. de Savornin Lohman, who in 1888, with Baron Ae. Mackay +(Lord Reay's cousin), led the first Anti-Revolutionist-Catholic majority +in the Second Chamber of the States-General. + +The third faction is headed by Dr. Bronsveld, and is called the +'Christian Historicals,' who differ on one great principle from the two +others, inasmuch as they seek the re-establishment of the Netherlands +Hervormde Kerk as State Church. + +But, however much they differ in practical measures, their common ground +is the recognition of the Holy Scriptures as the only right basis for +statesmanship, and their conviction that the present modern State is +merely a passing, non-Dutch consequence of the French Revolution and its +disastrous teachings. They all agree that the Netherlands should be +governed according to the principles that made Holland great and powerful +ever since the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Dr. Kuyper is fully +convinced that the French Revolution thrust Holland off its historical +line of development, and he wants to return, as near as possible, to the +point reached before that event, or, at any rate, to lead the State +forward in the old direction. + +All Anti-Revolutionists hold that their first civic duty is obedience to +God;--if conscience requires resistance to the authorities, resist them, +whatever you may suffer. At the same time they eschew clericalism and +object to every form of State Church. Hence one of their chief antipathies +is clause 171 of the constitution, which continues in the same way as +before the disestablishment of the Church the payments by the Exchequer to +various clergymen of all denominations. In opposition to this they demand +entire and absolute liberty and equality for all churches and confessions, +and, theoretically, admit that one can be a member of their party without +being of their creed. With regard to education, they do not desire to +substitute denominational State schools for the present neutral ones, but +they object that at present the State compels parents, who desire +religious schools for their children, not only to find all necessary +money for these 'free schools,' but to contribute in addition to the +school taxes, to the advantage of such parents as hold that secular and +religious education are better disconnected, since religious education +must needs be dogmatical and sectarian, and that the churches and not the +State should look to this, whereas school education can quite well be +given without reference to religion at all. + +The Anti-Revolutionist position, on the other hand, is that it is not the +State's duty to provide school or any other education, all education being +a matter of private concern for the individual family, and not a public +business at all; though they allow that where parents are unable to +maintain them schools may be erected by the taxpayers' money. They also +deprecate legislation against intemperance, immorality, and prostitution, +because they think such laws do not remove the evils themselves, but +merely attack their visible signs, and relieve moral trespassers of part +of their responsibility by protecting them against certain consequences of +their acts. They are opposed to the legal and compulsory observance of the +Sabbath, holding this to be an affair of the churches and of individuals; +but they support laws to compel employers to allow their men a sufficient +weekly rest on Sundays. They admit a limited State interference in social +matters, but contend that it must not discourage individual effort, or +create a host of officials, inspectors, and controllers. The franchise +must, according to them, never enable one section of the nation to +supersede the other by sheer force of numbers; they do not admit that the +majority System is the ultimate and only criterion of legality and +justice; moreover, the family being the unit from which the commonwealth +has grown into existence, they contend that heads of families are the +natural electors. Where the Old Liberals say that the financial test is +the right one for voters, the Anti-Revolutionists hold that no one has a +real stake in the country who has not a family and knows nothing of the +responsibilities involved thereby. Dr. Kuyper is the democratic leader of +what he calls, in classical but antiquated Dutch, the 'Kleine luyden' (the +'Little people') amongst the Anti-Revolutionists. He knows that the +'double-named' Free Anti-Revolutionists have little sympathy with his +social programme, but this does not matter, since they are perfectly well +aware of the fact that they owe everything, as far as political power +goes, to the 'Little people.' + +Finally, there is the Left Wing of the Roman Catholic party, who derive +their social convictions from Pope Leo's Encyclica 'Rerum Novarum,' which +affords a great many points upon which joint action is possible, for Leo +XIII. is often called in Holland 'the Workmen's Pope.' Both +Anti-Revolutionists and Roman Catholics entertain entirely different +political ideals, but they agree upon this, that the modern Liberal State +is not really neutral in religions matters, but is 'Modern Protestant,' +and 'Modern' Protestantism spells atheism in their eyes; and both regard a +weak and fragile Christian as a better citizen than the best atheist or +agnostic. For this reason they are combined in hostility to the existing +System of elementary education, which they suspect of an atheistic +tendency. These two questions, religion and the schools, virtually exhaust +the vital points of agreement between the Anti-Revolutionists and the +Roman Catholics, though in an emergency they might possibly unite on +social legislation or some mild form of Protection. The latter would, +however, have to be very mild indeed, for Dr. Kuyper is a Free Trader, and +the 'Little people' like cheap bread just as well as other folk. For +Holland it might be a matter of great importance if progressive social +legislation became Kuyper's chief work. + +There is no doubt a great drawback in this mixing up by ail parties of +politics and religion. Kuyper, the Calvinist; Schaepman, the Catholic; +Drucker, Treub, and Molengraaf, the Liberal Democrats; Goeman Borgesius, +the man of the 'Liberal Union;' and Troelstra, the Socialist, all have +many common ideas on social questions, although they may differ in +principles and seek different aims. Each of them, however, has +Conservative opponents in his own party, and there is just a possibility +that the next few years may bring about not only a healthy measure of +social development, but also a much-desired readjustment of parties, on +non-theological, undogmatical lines. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +The Administration of Justice + + + +There are two very marked differences between the administration of +justice in Holland and in England. The first is that what are called +'petty offences' are not tried and disposed of summarily in the former +country. There the offender in such cases is subjected to a process known +as 'verbalization'--that is, his name, address, age, and all particulars +of the offence are noted by the police; and he is thereupon informed that +he will be called upon to give an account of himself later. A week or two +may pass before the offender receives verbal or printed notice requiring +his presence before the Court of the Cantonal Judge, which answers +somewhat to the English Police Court. This delay in the administration of +justice is regarded as a great defect even in Holland, and one which is +more and more being recognized. The establishment of the Police Court as +known and conducted in England is felt, therefore, to be a great +_desideratum_, and it is by no means unlikely that it may be introduced +before long, since the Dutch have always shown themselves ready to adopt +any modification of their own institutions which the experience of other +countries may prove to be clearly desirable. + +The second difference is that trial by jury as Englishmen understand it +does not exist in the Netherlands. But here the Dutch are not likely to +abandon their own tradition. The jury in Holland is composed of +experienced and qualified judges, who are not apt to modify their opinions +as to the guilt or innocence of accused persons owing to the tears of the +latter or the passionate appeals of their advocates. Rightly or wrongly, +the most eminent lawyers in Holland ascribe the often-recurring cases of +miscarriage of justice in some countries which have adopted the jury +system to this system itself, and it is very improbable, therefore, that +in this respect the Dutch will copy any of their neighbours. + +The organization of justice in Holland originated in the Code Napoleon, +which was introduced shortly after the country's annexation to the French +Empire. In the judicial system in vogue to-day, which is the result of +modifications introduced at various times during last century, and +particularly by a law of the year 1895, the administration of justice is +vested in the High Court (_Hooge Raad_), the Provincial Courts of Justice +(_Gerechtskoven_), the Arrondissements (_Rechtbanken_), and the Cantonal +Courts (_Kantongerechten_). + +The High Court consists of a President, a Vice-President, from twelve to +fourteen Councillors, a Procurator-General, three Advocates-General (who +form, with the Procurator-General, the 'Public Ministry' or Office of +Public Prosecution), also a Greffier, or Clerk of Court, and two deputy +Greffiers. Most of the appointments are made by the Sovereign, and are +for life. The High Court is situated at The Hague, and its principal duty +is to control the administration of justice by the lower Courts, a +process known as 'cassation.' If, for example, one of the lower Courts +has pronounced a sentence from which there is no appeal in that Court, +and one of the contending parties is of opinion that the sentence is +excessive, that party may require the High Court to cancel or annul +(_casseer_) the verdict. When an appeal for cassation or annulment is +thus made, the High Court has not to go into the question of the guilt or +innocence of the contending parties, but merely into the question whether +the lower Court has judged rightly or whether it was competent to judge +the case at all. Such 'cassations' occur almost daily, not because the +High Court has a reputation for reversing the verdicts given below, but +because the process offers at least a good chance of getting a sentence +reduced. The Public Prosecution, however, has power to set in motion the +process of cassation without being called upon so to do if the interests +of justice should in its opinion require it. To the jurisdiction of the +High Court belong also piracy cases, the apportionment of prizes made in +war, and the determination of accusations against State officials of +abuse of power. + +Of Provincial Courts there are five, each composed of officials similar in +name, though not in rank, to those of the High Court, and they, too, are +for the most part appointed by the Crown, though not all for life. These +Provincial Courts pronounce judgment in the second instance--that is, when +the decision of a lower Court has been appealed against. This is, in fact, +their principal function, though they also pronounce judgment in the first +instance in cases of difference between the Cantonal Courts or +Arrondissement Courts. The latter are so named from the divisions into +which the country was split up for administrative purposes during the +Napoleonic _régime_, for the existing arrondissement boundaries are +virtually the same as those of ninety years ago. + +There are twenty-three Arrondissement Courts, thirteen of the first-class +and ten of the second class. Their principal business is to pronounce +judgment in the first instance, even in criminal cases, but they also +decide in the final instance in cases of dispute between the Cantonal +Courts, which are under their jurisdiction. They likewise adjudicate upon +claims for compensation up to a certain amount, upon disputes regarding +the boundaries of land and property, and upon complaints relating to +water-supply, drainage, and the like, while cases of mendicancy, vagrancy, +and evasion of taxes are decided by these Courts summarily. + +The Cantonal Courts are, as already stated, the nearest equivalent in +Holland to the English Police Courts. Their members, however, are legally +trained and salaried men, though attached to each Court are several +unsalaried deputies. The Judges of these Courts are appointed for life by +the Crown, and the minor officiais for a term of years. All the petty +cases which in England come before the Police Court are in Holland +adjudicated upon by the Cantonal Courts. Poaching, personal violence, +cruelty to animals, damage done to dwellings, trees, or crops, are all +cases for these Courts, and so long as the fines imposed do not exceed +two guineas, their judgment is final, but in other cases the right of +appeal exists. + +Mention has just been made of the fact that even from the lowest Court of +Law in Holland the amateur judge is rigidly excluded. No one who has not +acquired the diploma of Doctor of Laws from one of the Dutch Universities +is allowed to assume any responsible duty associated with the +administration of justice. The same severe requirement is imposed upon the +legal profession in general. The possession of the diploma of Doctor of +Laws and Letters alone entitles a man to practise as advocate. Amongst +themselves the members of the legal profession also exercise a sort of +mutual surveillance by means of their Councils of Supervision and +Discipline, whose duty it is to take care that nothing is done by an +advocate which is contrary to the law or to the honour of the faculty. +These Councils are chosen from amongst the lawyers themselves in all towns +where there are more than fourteen resident advocates, but in smaller +places their duties are discharged by the Provincial or Arrondissement +Courts. Should a lawyer be guilty of any serious misdemeanour he is +promptly expelled from the Community of Advocates, and he may be even +refused the right to plead in any of the public Courts. In passing, it is +an interesting feature of the Dutch judicial system that in every place +where there is a Court of Justice, higher or lower, there exists a +Consultation Bureau where people without means may obtain gratuitous +advice in legal matters. Unless a charge laid before this Consultation +Bureau appears on the face of it to be unsustainable, the Bureau appoints +one of its members to act as legal adviser and counsellor to the applicant +free of cost. In criminal cases the President of the Court concerned +appoints a legal adviser for the accused, though the latter may choose +another advocate if he pleases. + +It will be interesting to enter one of these Dutch Courts of Law, and a +Cantonal Court may perhaps best serve as an example, since that resembles +most closely the English _forum_ of the people--the Police Court. Let us +assume that we are privileged persons, though engaged in serious legal +business. We are bidden to make an appearance at a quarter to eleven +o'clock in the morning, and, presenting ourselves at that hour, we take +our seats on comfortable chairs, ranged round a long square table in the +large public waiting-room. As many other people are coming in, and the +room threatens soon to be crowded, a considerate attendant, knowing that +we are in favour with the grave and reverend seigniors who preside over +the Court, shows us into another and smaller room, where one of the deputy +Clerks (Greffier) is seated working at his books. One by one other persons +come in, pay small sums of money, of which the deputy Clerk evidently +keeps an exact account, together with the names and addresses of the +payers, the amounts yet remaining due--everything, in fact, relating to +each person's case. We note that some of the payers inquire how much they +yet owe, and the sum being told them, they forthwith take their departure. +We learn that these are all people who were fined some time ago for petty +offences, and who are, or pretend to be, unable to pay the full amount at +once. Hence they are allowed to pay by instalments, and it is the duty of +the Clerk to keep an accurate account of their contributions. + +Our own turn having come round, we are now ushered into the Court, where +we see His Worship the Judge seated at the head--which happens to be the +middle--of a long table, covered by the inevitable green cloth. Papers, +ink-stands, and pens are before him; at his left hand sits the Clerk, and +next to him the first deputy Clerk. We observe, too, how carefully the +proprieties are observed in the matter of dress. All the judicial +functionaries present wear a costume consisting of a black toga reaching +to the heels, with a white 'bef,' or collar-band, hanging in front +halfway down to the waist, and also a black _barrette_, or square cap, as +in France. + +Five persons are seated in the chairs next to ours and opposite to the +Judge. They have just testified that the last will of their parent has +been duly carried out, and that each of them has received his share, being +in this case '3887 guilders 7½ cents'. (don't forget the half-cent, for +attention to minutiae is one of those characteristics of the Dutch which +strikes us at every turn). Presently the Judge asks the eldest of the +party whether his name is not 'So-and-so.' The answer being in the +affirmative, His Worship nods to the Clerk, who begins to read out in +clear and measured tones-- + +'I, So-and-so (description and address follow), hereby declare and testify +to have received as my share in the heritage of my parent the sum legally +apportioned to me, being 3887 guilders 7½ cents.' + +Then the Judge asks: 'Are you prepared to swear that this is true, and +that as far as you know nothing is kept behind so that justice is not +fully carried out?' This is the legal formula in use upon such an +occasion, and it produces the expected reply. 'Very well, then,' proceeds +the Judge, 'repeat after me, "So truly help me God Almighty!"' The +familiar words of the Dutch oath are accompanied by the uplifting of the +right hand and the pointing to heaven of the first two fingers. Then +follow the other four members of the family in order of age. All of them +swear in the usual words, except the second daughter, who demurs, on which +the judicial eyebrows are raised in surprise. It appears that the maiden +suffers from religious scruples, being firmly of opinion that swearing an +oath is forbidden by Holy Scripture. The Judge listens respectfully, and +simply answers, 'Then repeat after me, "I hereby solemnly declare that the +words read out to me just now are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing +but the truth."' The conscientious witness having no objection to a +simple affirmation, the words are promptly repeated, the business is +completed, and the party are all allowed to withdraw. + +Now our own turn has come. One of our party, we will assume, has been +appointed by the Cantonal Judge to be guardian over a minor son of another +of our number. All declare who, what, and whence they are, and that the +guardian has received his appointment with their common consent, while the +guardian himself makes formal declaration of accepting the duty. He is +thereupon sworn by the Judge in the occupation of his office, promising +'to act in all things as a true and faithful guardian should act, so truly +help me God Almighty.' These several incidents are fairly typical of the +sort of business which occupies the attention of these minor Courts. As we +leave the building, however, we learn another piece of interesting +information in the course of conversation with the deputy Clerk whose +acquaintance we first made. It is that the principle of 'punishment by +instalments' is applied in the case of the poorer classes, not merely in +the matter of fines, but also of imprisonment, save in criminal cases. +Many a poor man, for instance, who shortly after being sentenced to, say, +a week's or a fortnight's imprisonment has happened to find employment +would be ruined if compelled to go to prison at once. He is therefore +allowed, as in Russia, to select his own time for surrendering himself to +the prison authorities, and if, as often happens in poaching cases, two +different offences have brought upon him two terms of imprisonment, he is +allowed to come before the Judge, with the request that he may combine +these two terms, beginning his incarceration at a fixed date. The Court to +whose clemency he thus appeals generally grants the request, and the man +is thus enabled to work for his livelihood whilst the demand for labour +is general, and to go to prison when he happens to be out of work, and +would only be one mouth more to feed at home, where his wife and children +already find difficulty enough in making both ends meet. When imprisonment +is thus post-poned the offender receives from the Court a document, on the +presentation of which at the prison door the Master of the prison will +admit him as a temporary occupant of one of the cells. Old gaol-birds, +however, are not treated so tenderly, but the Judges soon learn by +experience when and how to apply this merciful arrangement, and when to +refuse it altogether. + +In general the statistics of crime give Holland a decidedly favourable +reputation. Serious misdemeanours are comparatively rare. Crimes like +burglary, theft, and the like, are certainly committed often enough, but +there is no evidence to show that they are on the increase, while life and +property are at least as secure in the large Dutch towns as anywhere else +in Europe. The Hague, though a city of 220,000 inhabitants, is +sufficiently protected by the comparatively small number of 220 policemen. +Rotterdam and Amsterdam both have a larger number of policemen per +thousand inhabitants than The Hague, but this is natural, owing to the +more heterogeneous character of the population of these great commercial +centres. It is a notable fact that in every town in Holland the +Burgomaster or Mayor is the supreme head of the police, and that the Chief +Commissary of Police must not merely co-operate with him, but is in the +last resort subject to his direct command. + +In spite of the fact that Courts of summary jurisdiction of the English +type do not exist in Holland, the police authority possesses a +considerable amount of power. Mention has been made of the process of +'verbalization' as applied to common misdemeanours. In the case of +drunkenness or fighting, however, the offenders are at once taken before +the Commissary of Police, who promptly deals with them. Offences against +which the police are entirely powerless are those of adulteration of food, +household quarrels so long as they remain within certain bounds, and an +offence of quite modern origin known as 'bottle-drawing' (_Anglicè_, +'long-firm frauds'). This last is an ingenious species of fraud which has +become very common in Holland of late years. A person orders a quantity of +goods from merchants of various towns on the pretence of opening accounts, +which he promises will quickly assume large dimensions. Consignment after +consignment of wares is sent, but never paid for, and when at last the too +trustful merchant discovers that he has been playing into the hands of a +swindler he gets no redress, for the artful schemer has disappeared, +taking with him the proceeds of the goods received. For a time this sort +of fraud was quite popular, but then the eyes of the business community +were opened, and the strong hand of the law fell upon several offenders +with crushing weight, after which 'bottle-drawing' lost in attractiveness. +On the whole, the police in Holland are commendably energetic as well as +dutiful, and the relationship between the police authority and the public +is generally a friendly and trustful one. + +It may be noted that the Dutch law strongly discourages divorce. In +general the present generation is apt to regard separation and divorce +with greater favour than its fathers did, but though this feeling may to +some extent influence the decisions of Dutch Judges in divorce +proceedings, the law itself, strictly interpreted, offers little hope to +those who would weaken the marriage tie. When married people disagree to +such an extent that a rupture between them is imminent, and a demand for +divorce is made, proof is required that the demand comes only from one +side, for divorce by common consent is against the law except in cases of +adultery. In every other case the Judge of the Cantonal Court must do his +utmost to effect a reconciliation. Should, however, a demand for divorce +be repeated, this same Judge, or a Judge of a Superior Court, must again +endeavour to bring the parties together, and only in the event of failure +is judicial separation _a mensâ et thoro_ pronounced, and this separation +must exist for a number of years--as a rule seven--before actual divorce +can take place. Nevertheless, both separation and divorce are far more +frequent nowadays than ten or twenty years ago, owing largely to the +judicial disposition to interpret the law more in accordance with what are +known as 'modern ideas.' + +Holland is one of the few countries which no longer tolerate capital +punishment. It was abolished thirty years ago, and, in spite of the +strenuous efforts of the reactionary party, it is not likely to be +re-established. Quite recently, Mr. C. Loosjes wrote a pamphlet in +advocacy of the reenactment of capital punishment, and his position at the +Ministry of Justice gave to this work considerable weight. His contention +was that since capital punishment was abolished, the crimes of murder, +attempted murder, poisoning, and parricide had increased, but Mr. Loosjes +failed to make sufficient allowance for the fact that during the period +covered by his statistics the population of the country had greatly +increased. The fact is that during the twenty years preceding abolition +considerably more crimes punishable by death occurred than during the +twenty years following that act of clemency, civilisation, and +enlightenment, while as compared with other countries Holland takes a very +favourable position indeed, standing, together with England, Belgium, and +Germany, at the head of the nations having the smallest number of crimes +of a kind usually punished by death. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +Religious Life and Thought + + + +The Dutch are a thoroughly religious people. Religious sentiments and +introspective inclinations were bound to develop and prosper in the Low +Lands, where vast plains of fertile land are only limited by the endless +sea below, the unfathomable blue of heaven above; where man feels himself +an atom, lost in the vastness of creation, yet safe, because he is placed +there by the will of a beneficent Maker. + +Introspective, personal, individualistic, self-centred are their painters +and their poets. These were greatly so when Holland's fleets ruled the +seas, and when Holland's influence and power were felt far beyond ils own +narrow frontiers; and they are still so in our days. + +This individualism accounts for the many sects found among the Dutch +Reformed. The Roman Catholic Church, the only episcopacy in Holland, +numbers only two sections: those--the majority--who admit the +infallibility of the Pope, and those--a small minority--who, although +recognizing the Pope as chief of the Church, do not agree with the +decisions of the Vatican Council of 1870, proclaiming this papal +infallibility. The Roman Catholic Church is a tolerably prospering +institution, thanks to the absolute freedom which it, like all the sister +Churches, enjoys in Holland, where, ever since the revolution of 1795, a +State Church has been an unknown thing. On the whole, however, its growth +is not keeping pace with the increase of the population. A former census +indicated that the Roman Catholics numbered two-fifths of the whole +population, but the latest puts them down at only one-third, and in the +Second Chamber of the States General there are only twenty-five Roman +Catholic members out of a total of a hundred representatives. Their +present organization dates from 1853, when the Liberals agreed to the +appointment by the Pope of one Archbishop in Utrecht, and four Bishops in +Haarlem, Bois-le-Duc, Breda, and Roermond. The bishoprics are divided in +decanates, and in 1858 the Pope completed the organization by instituting +chapters, each governed by one provost and eight canons. The Archbishops +and Bishops do not officially participate in political life in Holland, +although, as a matter of course, nobody can help noticing their influence +upon the electorate; the minor clergy as a rule are less discreet in this +matter than their chiefs, whereas the political leader of the Roman +Catholics in the Second Chamber is Dr. Herman Schaepman, a priest, a +professer at the Seminary of Rysenburg, a statesman, an orator, and a +poet, whose quintuple attainments are equally admired, although his +scientific importance is not generally considered to be quite as weighty +as the rest of his remarkable personality. + +Far more significant for Dutch religious life are the other two-thirds of +the population, Protestants to the back-bone. The former State Church, the +Netherlands Reformed Church, was left in a most awkward position when, in +1795, disestablishment was forced upon it. Up till 1848, when Jann Rudolf +Thorbecke saved Holland and the Royal House from another revolution, by +imposing a Liberal constitution upon the reluctant King William II, the +Netherlands Reformed Church had no sound, well-regulated status; but not +before 1870 was the last tie Connecting State and Church severed. The +State now no longer exercises spiritual or other supervision, but merely +pays a yearly allowance to the various clergymen, without vindicating or +claiming any rights in return. + +On the other hand, the State no longer pays or appoints University +professors to teach specific reformed theology; every Church of every +description looks after this on behalf of its own students, and whereas +the Roman Catholic clergy are educated at the Seminaries, the General +Synod, the supreme governing board of the Netherlands Reformed Church, +nominates two professors for each of the four Dutch Universities at +Leyden, Utrecht, Groningen, and Amsterdam. + +It is necessary to point here to a peculiarity in Dutch religious and +political life. At the time when Liberal politics were developing in +Holland, critical and historical research made itself conspicuous in the +teaching of leading Dutch ecclesiastics like Scholten and Kuenen. The +Reformation upset the Divine authority of the Pope; these modern critics +denied and destroyed the faith in the Divine authority of the Bible. They +were educated, and afterwards taught their lessons at the University of +Leyden, where the future Liberal statesmen of Holland were preparing for +their task; they had the same ideals, the same modes of thought. + +[Illustration: Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers +Worshipped Before Leaving for New England).] + +The ecclesiastics called themselves 'Moderns;' the politicians were +designated 'Liberals.' Both vindicated the supreme right of freedom in +everything: free criticism, free research, free thought, free speech. The +reign of pure intellectualism became supreme; every emotion, every +sentiment was dissected, measured by the measure of inexorable logic; and +rationalism, later doomed to bankruptcy, was in those days all-triumphant. + + +So it came about that the Liberals were 'Moderns' and the 'Moderns' +Liberals; and as the State was for a quarter of a century governed by +Liberals who involuntarily made the Church 'Modern,' populated by +Liberals, so it also came about that their religious opponents became +their political foes. + +These opponents were called 'Orthodox;' they felt this imposition of +liberty as the worst coercion one man could apply to another--the coercion +of the conscience. They did not care to see the Bible treated as a piece +of sheer human manufacture, however exalted; they felt it a burning shame +to have to pay taxes towards the maintenance of irreligious, or even +anti-religious, scientific chairs and colleges. They thought of their +stern forefathers, who had broken the power of the mighty Spanish Empire, +strengthened by God's Word and by that only. To them the Netherlands +Reformed Church and the Netherlands State lost their sound and only safe +basis by the assertion that there was something changeable, something +non-eternal in the Bible; that this Bible, revered as containing the Holy +Scriptures, might be replaced by any human System of thought to serve as +the foundation for the structure of the State. + +This blending of Modernism and Liberalism afforded to them absolute proof +that any abandonment of the ancient creed and the revered confession meant +ruin both to State and Church. So they followed the time-honoured practice +of the Dutch race; they separated, broke away from a species of liberty +which was not of their liking, and became 'Anti-Revolutionists' and +'Separatists' ('Afgescheidenen'); Calvin, with his staunch, severe +Protestantism, being their ideal as statesman and spiritual leader. + +The Dutch language has two words for one thing: 'Hervorming' and +'Reformatie.' But there is a vast difference between the Netherlands +'Hervormde' and the Netherlands 'Gereformeerde' Churches. The former is +the late State Church, the latter is the Church of the 'Afgescheidenen,' +who, before joining the Netherlands Gereformeerde, called themselves +'Christelyk Gereformeerde.' These two joined in 1892, and are now known as +the 'Gereformeerde Kerken' (the Reformed Churches). + +Their leader is Professer Abraham Kuyper, the present President Minister +of the Netherlands. He, like Dr. Schaepman, is a born orator, a prolific +author, a scientific ecclesiastic, a strong democratic leader of men, an +admirable organizer, and perhaps the most brilliant journalist in Holland; +but beyond this, he is a staunch Protestant of the strictest Calvinistic +type, to whom the Roman Catholic Church is a blasphemous and idolatrous +institution. In 1879 he created the 'Society for Higher Education on a +Reformed Basis,' and in 1880 his 'Free University' was consecrated in the +'Nieuwe Kerk' (the New Church) at Amsterdam, Dr. Kuyper ever since the +opening acting as one of the professors. His flock is now strong in +numbers, but his and their faith is stronger and has worked miracles, +building churches and schools, maintaining preachers and teachers, finding +money for everything, and finally, for the second time, gaining a +political victory, with the help of such strange auxiliaries as the Roman +Catholics. What unites them is the conviction they have in common that a +State and a Government not led themselves by religion must lead a nation +to perdition. To them Liberal Governments, although theoretically free +from clerical influence, are actually led and unduly influenced by the +'Modern' Protestants of Holland. These 'Modern' Protestants reject the +dogma of the Holy Trinity and various other dogmas which the Roman +Catholics and the Orthodox Protestants consider the essence of the +Christian creed; they are, therefore, in the opinion of the latter, mere +atheists, and consequently unfit to rule the destinies of a nation. + +[Illustration: Utrecht Cathedral.] + +These 'Modern' Protestants came to the fore during the last fifty years. +The University of Groningen taught a humanism, which created a reaction +towards the ancient confessors of the creed, the 'reveal,' or awakening. +Subsequently modern cosmosophy tried to adjust its opinions to modern +science and the results of modern research in every branch of human +knowledge. This was a great blow to the ancestral faith and the venerable +Confession. In those days Coenraad Busken Huet published his 'Letters on +the Bible,' popularizing the scientific criticisms of the Sacred Book. +Gradually Leyden's University took the lead, Johannes Henricus Scholten, +Abraham Kuenen, and the Utrecht philosopher Cornelis Willem Opzoomer +assisting the new movement by their profound knowledge, their irresistible +logic, their brilliant style, and their high enthusiasm. In those years +Holland went through ail the throes accompanying the appearance of new +life; it was a time of intellectual stress and strain, a time of +controversial storm in which unrelenting criticism and critical research +carried away everything that could not exist in the light of exact science +and exacter thinking. + +Jacobus Izaak Doedes, Johannes Jacobus van Oosterzee, Chantepic de la +Saussaye, the successors of Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Jan Rudolf +Thorbecke's greatest opponent, and Isaäc Da Costa, Willem Bilderdyk's +famous pupil, defended the ancient creed, but the General Synod was +'Modern' and the 'Orthodox' had a difficult time. + +In numbers of places the 'dominees,' or preachers, were Orthodox, and in +order to provide their own followers with spiritual fare, the 'Moderns' +established in 1870 the 'Nederlandsche Protestantenbond,' or Netherlands +Protestant League. This League sees that all over the country 'Modern' +sermons are preached, 'Modern' Sunday Schools instituted, meetings of +Protestants arranged, and everything is done that can support or promote +religious life. + +Besides these two large bodies of Protestants, the Orthodox and the +Moderns, Holland has a good many Lutherans, Baptists, or Mennonites, and +Remonstrants. Of the Lutherans the most numerous are the Evangelical +Lutherans, who faithfully maintain the Augsburg Confession, while the +Moderns, known as Reinstated Lutherans, abandoned that organ of doctrine. +There is not, however, much animosity between the two sects at the present +time, neither making a strong point of dogma, but both giving a prominent +place to the demands of Christian practice. + +The Mennonites--so called after the Dutch reformer Menno Simons +(1496-1561)--were in olden times the most persecuted Protestants of all. +Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists were equally hard upon them, +and many of them lost their lives on account of their convictions. They +have no test, no church, no rite, no clergy. They have fraternities, and +in these the minister is the 'voorganger' (guide or leader), though his +education, social position, and general duties are the same as those of +all other Protestant ministers. In Amsterdam they have their own Seminary, +and the names of Professors Samuel Muller, Sytske Hoekstra Bzn, Jacob +Gysbert de Hoop Scheffer, and Jan van Gilse are honoured in the country +and outside the 'General Baptist Society,' as their central body is +called. Their teaching and preaching appeal not only to the religions, but +very strongly to the ethical and moral tendencies of humanity. + +The Remonstrants (formerly Arminians) came upon the scene towards the end +of the sixteenth century. Dirk Vorlkertsz Coornhert had written a very +able refutation of the dogma of predestination. The Town Council of +Amsterdam ordered Jacob Arminius to Write a book against Coornhert's work. +But behold! when Arminius settled down to the task, and read Coornhert's +argument carefully, he came to the conclusion that the other was right, +and from an opponent he turned into a powerful ally. This happy lack of +bias has ever been the particular feature of Arminian doctrine, and, like +the Mennonites, the Remonstrants hold that the value of religion is +determined by its beneficial influence on ethics. Considering the ethical +or social fermentation which Holland, like every other country, has +witnessed during the last decades, it is not surprising to find a great +many 'Modern' members of the Netherlands 'Hervormde Kerk' joining the +Remonstrant fraternity, which affords absolute liberty as regards dogma +and confession, and at the same time satisfies their altruistic +inclinations. + +It is one of the commonest contentions of the age that ethics and religion +can exist in one being independently of each other. One very advanced sect +of modern Dutch Protestants--not yet, however, numbering a great many +adherents--does not go quite to this extreme, but in the 'Vrye Gemeente,' +or 'Free Community,' they represent religion as a thing complete in +itself, a thing purely pertaining to the individual, personal spiritual +life. This 'Free Community' was established in 1878 by two Amsterdam +ministers, Pieter Hermannus Hugenholtz and Frederik Willem Nicolaas +Hugenholtz. They neither observe Ascension Day nor Whitsuntide; they +abolished Baptism and the Eucharist; and, however charitable the members +may be in their private capacities, the Free Community, as such, does not +practise poor-relief or charity in any form. + +In this connexion it is interesting to add a few words about Dutch Free +Masonry. The Dutch Free Masons of the present day are not so much +moralists as ethicists. The well-being of the commonwealth based upon the +well-being of every member--spiritually, intellectually, and +materially--is their threefold aim. They feel and express profound +admiration for every form of religious life, utterly indifferent as to the +existence or non-existence of any dogma accompanying it, since they freely +realize how strong a motive religion is to ethics; they admit Roman +Catholics, Orthodox or Modern Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, Mohammedans, +Atheists and Agnostics into their fraternity, no confessional test +whatever being put to any one; they only require faithful co-operation +towards the general betterment of human society as a whole. + +The Hebrew Church has also enjoyed perfect freedom ever since the +constitution of 1848 made the right of congregation absolute and +incontestable. But after being fettered during so many centuries, it took +even this energetic and tenacious race some twenty years to shake itself +free from the lingering influences of long-protracted restraint. It was +only in 1870 that the Netherlands Israelitic Congregation was established; +the Portuguese Jews in Holland have a separate governing body. Modern and +ancient views clash here, as everywhere else, but the consciousness of +their illustrious history, not sullied, but adorned with greater +brilliancy by centuries of persecution, becomes gradually more powerful in +the mind of the Dutch Jew, and invigorates his natural and national +tendency towards the ancient rites and doctrines of his classic creed. + + + + +Chapter XX + +The Army and Navy + + + +Although the Dutch maintained their independence in the sixteenth century +against the most formidable regular army in Europe, and also did their +fair share of fighting in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they +have long ceased to aspire to the rank of a military Power. The separation +from Belgium in 1830-31 put an end to the Orange policy of creating a +powerful Netherland State from Lorraine to the North Sea which could hold +its own with either France or Prussia, and since that period Holland has +gradually sunk, and seemingly without discontent, into the position of a +third-rate Power. This has taken place without any apparent loss of the +old love of independence, but it has necessarily been accompanied by a +diminution not only of the military spirit, but of military efficiency and +readiness. The spectacle of immense armies of millions of men in the +neighbouring States seems to have produced a sense of helplessness among +the people of the Netherlands, and to have led them to believe that +resistance, were it needful, would be futile. The inglorious campaign of +1794, when Pichegru occupied Holland almost without a blow, serves as a +sort of object-lesson to demonstrate the hopelessness of any attempt at +resistance, instead of the creditable campaign of 1793; when the Dutch +expelled Dumouriez from their country. Curiously enough, the Transvaal War +has revived national hope and confidence by showing what a well-armed +people without military training can do when standing on the defensive. +Time is necessary to prove whether this new sentiment will remove the +fatalistic feeling of helplessness that has been creeping over Dutch +public men, and brace them to efforts worthy of their ancestry. + +The sense of impotency has not been confined to the land forces alone. In +that matter it was felt that a nation of less than five millions could +not compete with those that numbered forty and fifty millions. But the +same sentiment exists also with regard to maritime power, where the +competition is not of men, but of money. The immense navies of modern +days, and the enormous cost of their maintenance and renovation, seem to +exclude small States from the rank of naval Powers. Holland, with the +finest material for manning a navy of any Continental State, can be no +exception to the general rule. Her little navy is a model of efficiency, +her small cruisers of 5000 tons are not surpassed by any of the same +size, and the _morale_ of her officers, one may not doubt, is worthy of +the service that produced not only the Ruyters and Tromps of old days, +but Suffren, our most able opponent during the long Napoleonic struggle. +None the less, the Dutch navy remains a small navy quite overshadowed by +the immense organizations of the present age, and without any possible +chance of competing with them. + +This self-evident fact exercises a depressing influence on Dutch opinion, +which has latterly shown a marked desire to ally the country with some +other. An alliance with Belgium, that of the North and South +Netherlanders, the old Union of the Provinces broken in 1583 and +imperfectly restored from 1815 to 1830, would be hailed with delight. The +difficulty of attaining this consolidation of Netherland opinion and +resources, on account of pronounced religious differences, has resulted in +the formation of a considerable body of opinion favourable to an alliance +with Germany. For the moment, events in South Africa have placed the old +English party in a hopeless minority. + +Although the Dutch possess in probably an unabated degree all the sturdy +characteristics that distinguished them of old, it seems as if prosperity +had somewhat blunted the edge of patriotism, at least to the extent of +rendering them unwilling to submit to the hardships of the conscription, +when fully applied to the whole people. As the consequence the Dutch do +not come under the head of an armed nation, and the war effective of their +army is less than 70,000 men. + +The regulations applying to the army are based on the law of 1861, which +was modified in one important particular by an Act of 1898. The army was +to be raised partly by conscription and partly by voluntary enlistment. +The annual contingent by conscription was fixed at 11,000 men. Every man +became liable to conscription at the age of nineteen, but as the right of +purchasing exemption continued in force until the Act of 1898 referred to, +all well-to-do persons so minded escaped from the obligation of military +service. At the same time its conditions were made as light as possible. +Nominally the conscripts had to serve for five years, but in reality they +remained one year with the colours, and afterwards were called out for +only six weeks' training during each of the four subsequent years. The +regular army thus obtained mustered on a peace footing 26,000 men and 2000 +officers, and on a war footing 68,000 officers and men and 108 guns, +excluding fortress artillery. Considering the interests entrusted to its +charge, the Dutch army must be pronounced the weakest of any State +possessing colonies--a position of no inconsiderable importance from the +historical and political point of view. + +It will be said, no doubt, that Holland possesses other land forces +besides her regular army, and this is true, but they are by the admission +of the Dutch themselves ill organized and not up to the level of their +duties. There is the Schutterij, or National Volunteer force--perhaps +Militia would be a more correct term, because the law creating it is based +on compulsion. The law organizing the Schutterij was passed in April, +1827, by which ail males were required to serve in it between the ages of +twenty-five and thirty, and from thirty to thirty-five in the Schutterij +reserve. An active division is formed out of unmarried men and widowers +without children. This division would be mobilized immediately on the +outbreak of war, and would take its place alongside the regular army. It +probably numbers five thousand men out of the total of 45,000 active +Schutterij. The reserve Schutterij does not exceed 40,000, but behind ail +these is what is termed indifferently the Landsturm, or the _levee en +masse_. There is only one defect in this arrangement, which is that by far +the larger portion of the population has never had any military training +except that given to the Schutterij, which is practically none at all. A +_levee en masse_ in Holland would have precisely the value, and no more, +that it would have in any other non-military State which either did not +possess a regular army of adequate efficiency and strength, or which had +not passed its population through the ranks of a conscript army. + +The Dutch Schutterij is ostensibly based on the model of the Swiss Rifle +Clubs, and the obligatory part of its service relates to rifle-practice at +the targets, but there the similarity ends. There is no room to question +the efficiency of the Swiss marksmen, and the tests applied are very +severe. But in Holland the practice is very different. The Schutterij +meetings are made the excuse for jollity, eating and drinking. They are +rather picnics than assemblies for the serious purpose of qualifying as +national defenders. Even in marksmanship the ranges are so short, and the +efficiency expected so meagre, that the military value of this civic force +is exceedingly dubious. It could only be compared with that of the Garde +Civique of Belgium, and with neither the Swiss Rifle Corps nor our own +Volunteers. + +Curiously enough, there is, however, an offshoot of the Schutterij based +also on the old organization of an ancient guild called the +"Sharpshooters." Its members are supposed to be good shots, or at least to +take pains to become so, and they practise at something approaching long +ranges. But it is a very limited and somewhat exclusive organization based +on a considerable subscription. It is the society or club of well-to-do +persons with a bent towards rifle-practice. An application to the +Schutterij of the obligations forming part of the voluntary and +self-imposed conditions accepted by the Sharpshooters would, no doubt, add +much to its efficiency, and might in time give Holland a serviceable +auxiliary corps of riflemen. + +Besides the home army, Holland possesses a very considerable colonial army +which is commonly known as the Indian contingent. This force garrisons +Java, Sumatra, and the other colonies in the East. The army of the East +Indies numbers 13,000 Europeans and 17,000 natives, principally Malays of +Java. Besides this regular garrison a Schutterij force is maintained in +Java. It consists of 4000 Europeans and 6000 natives. The Europeans are +the planters and the members of the civil service. The natives are the +retainers of some of the native princes, and the overseers and more +responsible men employed on the European plantations. The total garrison +of the Dutch East Indies is consequently a very considerable one, viewed +by the light of its duties, but allowance has to be made for the +interminable war in Atchin, which keeps several thousand men permanently +engaged, and never seems nearer an ending. + +The Dutch authorities find great difficulty in recruiting their army for +the East Indies, and with the growth of prosperity this difficulty +increases. Indeed, the garrison could not be maintained at its present +high strength but for the numerous volunteers who come forward for this +well-paid service from Germany and Belgium. At one time these outside +recruits became so numerous owing to the tempting offers made to them by +the Dutch authorities that the two Governments interested presented formal +protests against their proceedings. Germany has always been very sore on +the subject of losing any of her soldiers, and Belgium has much need of +all the men likely to serve abroad in the Congo State. There are still +foreigners of German and Belgian race in the Dutch Indian army, but any +design of turning it into a Foreign Legion on the same model as that of +the force which has served France so well in Algeria and her colonies has +fallen through. + +The only active service or practical experience of war which the Dutch +army has had since the end of the struggle with Belgium has been in the +East Indies. The Lombock expedition of 1894 is still remembered for its +losses and disasters, but on that occasion the Dutch displayed a fine +spirit of fortitude under a reverse, and ended the campaign by bringing +the hostile Sultan to reason. The long struggle with the Atchinese has +been marked by heroism on both sides, and is evidence that the Dutch have +not lost their old tenacity. At the same time the Government finds +considerable difficulty in obtaining the requisite number of voluntary +exiles to preserve its possessions in the Eastern Archipelago, and it may +find itself obliged to reduce the effective strength of its garrison. + +Moreover, the hygienic conditions are still extremely unfavourable, and +the rate of mortality among Europeans in Java and the Celebes is +particularly high. It may be no longer true, as was said with perhaps +some exaggeration in the time of Marshal Daendels at the beginning of +last century, that the European Dutch garrisons die out every three +years, but the death-rate is certainly high, and a considerable part of +the garrison returns invalided by fever a very few months after its +arrival in the East. At present the Dutch Indies are absolutely safe +because England does not covet them, and would never dream of molesting +the Dutch in them provided she herself remains unmolested. But should +international competitions break out in that quarter of the world Holland +might experience some difficulty in maintaining her garrison at an +adequate strength for the proper discharge of her international duties, +but this contingency is not likely to present itself for another twenty +or thirty years. + +The troops of the regular Dutch army will compare favourably with any of +their neighbours. They are not as stiff on parade as the Germans, and they +are more solid than the French. Their physique is good, although, owing to +the practice of purchasing a substitute, which has too lately ceased to +allow of the change to come into full effect, the infantry contains an +abnormal number of short men, which gives a misleading idea of the average +height of the race. The minimum height of the infantry soldier is 5 ft. +1½ ins., which is very low for a people whose general stature is quite +on a level with our own. There is certainly one point in which the Dutch +soldiers strike the observer as being different from their neighbours. +They seem light-hearted and jovial, not at all oppressed by the severe +claims of discipline, and at the same time quite free from the slouch that +gives the Belgian linesman a non-military appearance. + +The strength of the Dutch army lies undoubtedly in its corps of officers, +a body of specially qualified men fitted to discharge the duties that +devolve on the leaders of any army. The majority of these pass through the +Royal Military Academy, an institution from which we might borrow some +features with advantage. Candidates are admitted between the ages of +fifteen and eighteen, and undergo a course of four years before they are +eligible for a commission. As the charges at the Academy are limited to +_£22 10s_. a year, the expense of becoming an officer forms no prohibitive +barrier, and in a course of training spread over four years the cadet can +be turned into a fully qualified officer before he is entrusted with the +discharge of practical duties. Moreover, his training does not stop with +his leaving the Academy. It is supposed to be necessary to complete it by +a further course in camps of instruction, and subsequently by what are +called State missions in the temporary service of other armies. This +practice is fairly general on the Continent, although it is never resorted +to by the British, who are less acquainted with the organization of +Continental armies than is the case with even third or fourth-rate States. + +The headquarters of the Dutch Engineers are at Utrecht, of the Artillery +at Zwolle, of the Infantry at The Hague, and of the Cavalry at Breda. +Utrecht is the most important of these military stations, because the +Engineers are the most important branch of the army, and also because it +is the centre of the canal and dyke System of Holland. The school or +college of the State Civil Engineers, to whom is entrusted the care of the +dykes, is at Utrecht. They are known as Waterstaat, and Utrecht may be +held to supplement and complete the machinery existing at the capital, +Amsterdam, for flooding the country. In theory and on paper, the defence +of Holland is based on the assumption that in the event of invasion the +country surrounding Amsterdam to as far as Utrecht on one side and Leyden +on the other would be flooded. There are many who doubt whether the +resolution to sanction the enormous attendant damage would be displayed. +It is said that the national spirit does not beat so high as when the +youthful William resorted to that measure in 1672 to baffle the French +monarch, and then prepared his fleet, in the event of its failure, to +convey the relics of Dutch greatness and the fortunes of Orange to a new +home and country beyond the seas. On that occasion the waters did their +work thoroughly well. But it is said that they might not accomplish what +was expected of them on the next occasion, while the damage inflicted +would remain. Nothing can solve this question save the practical test, but +there is no reason to believe that at heart the Dutch race of to-day is +less patriotic or resolute than formerly. + +At the same time a very important change has to be noted in the views of +Dutch strategists. Formerly the whole system of national defence centred +in Amsterdam, and it must be added that the dykes have been mainly +constructed with the idea of flooding the country round it. This was the +old plan, sanctioned by antiquity and custom, of defending the capital at +all costs, and making it the final refuge of the race. But latterly the +opinion has been spreading among military men that Rotterdam would make a +far better place of final stand than Amsterdam, because, the forts of the +Texel once forced, the capital might be menaced by a naval attack from the +Zuyder Zee or by the Northern Canal. In old days Amsterdam was safe from +any naval descent, but the introduction of steam has laid it open to the +attack at least of torpedo flotillas. The entrance to the Meuse, it is +represented, could be made impregnable with little difficulty, and the +approaches to Rotterdam from the land side are far more dependent on the +proper restraining of the waters within their artificial or natural +channels than those to Amsterdam. There is another argument in support of +Rotterdam. It would be easier for Holland's allies to send aid there than +to Amsterdam, while a strong position at Rotterdam would senously menace +any hostile army at Utrecht, and contribute materially to the defence of +Amsterdam as well. But the Dutch are a slow people to move. Amsterdam is +supposed to be ready to stand a siege at any time, whereas Rotterdam's +defences are mainly on paper. The garrison of Rotterdam is only a few +hundred men, and to convert it into a fortified position would, no doubt, +entail the outlay of a good many million florins. Still, the conviction is +spreading that Rotterdam has supplanted Amsterdam as the real centre of +Dutch prosperity and national life. + +The Schutterij is, singularly enough, not popular. The reason for this is +not very clear, as the duties are quite nominal, and in no material +clegree interfere with civil employment. The distaste to any form of +military service is tolerably general, and the advanced Radical party has +adopted as one of its cries, "Nobody wishes to be a soldier." Probability +points, however, not to the abolition of the Schutterij, but to its being +made more efficient, and consequently the conditions of service in it must +become more rigorous. There is one portion of the duties of the Schutterij +which is far from unpopular with the men of the force. When a householder +neglects to pay his taxes one or more militiamen are quartered on him, and +he is obliged to supply his guests not merely with good food and lodging, +but also with abundant supplies of tobacco and gin. Apart from such +incidents, which one may not doubt from the nature of the penalty are +exceedingly rare, the Schutterij seems to have rather a dull and +monotonous time of it. + +There is one fact about the Dutch army that deserves mention. It is +extremely well behaved, and the men give their officers very little +trouble. The discipline is lighter than in most armies. There is an +unusually kindly feeling between officers and men for a Continental force, +and at the same time the public and the military are on excellent terms +with each other. This is, no doubt, due to the very short period served +with the colours, and to the fact that the last four years, with the +exception of six weeks annually in a camp or fortress, are passed in civil +life at home. + +The Dutch navy, although small in comparison with its past achievements +and with its present competitors, is admitted to be well organized, +efficient in its condition, and manned by a fine _personnel_. It is +generally said, perhaps unjustly, that the pick of the manhood of Holland +joins the navy in preference to the army. One fact shows that there is no +difficulty in obtaining the required number of recruits to man the fleet, +for while the nominal law is that of conscription for the navy as well as +for the army, all the necessary contingent is obtained by voluntary +enlistment. No doubt the large fishing and boating classes provide +excellent material, and a comparatively short spell of service on board a +man-of-war offers an agreeable break in their lives. The Dutch being a +nautical race by tradition as well as by the daily work of a large portion +of them, there is nothing uncongenial in a naval career. No difficulty is +experienced in obtaining the services of the seven thousand seamen and two +thousand five hundred marine infantry who form the permanent staff of the +Dutch navy, and if the country's finances enabled it to build more ships, +there would be no serious difficulty in providing the required number of +men to furnish their crews. + +In 1897 some steps were taken in this direction, and a credit of five +millions sterling for a ship-building programme was voted. Its operations +have not yet been brought to a conclusion, but a torpedo fleet has been +created for the defence of the Zuyder Zee, supplementing the defences at +Helder and the Texel. Something has also been done in the same direction +for the defence of Batavia and the ports of Java. The Dutch navy might be +correctly described as a good little one, quite equal to the everyday work +required of it, but not of the size or standard to play an ambitious +_rôle_. We should not, however, overlook the fact that its addition to the +navy of another Power would be as important an augmentation of strength as +was the case when Pichegru added the Dutch fleet to that of France by +capturing it with cavalry and horse artillery while ice-bound in the +Zuyder Zee. Nor can we always count on a Duncan to end the story as at +Camperdown. + +The impression left on an observer of the military and naval classes in +Holland is that they are not animated by a very strong martial spirit. +Clothed in a military costume, they are still essentially men of peace, +who would be sorry to commit an act of violence or do an injury to any +one. The officers as a class are devoted to the technical part of their +work, and are thoroughly well posted in the science of war. But whether it +is due to the long peace, to the spread of prosperity among all classes of +the community, or to the lymphatic character of the race, it is not easy +to persuade one's self that the Dutch army, taken as a whole, is a +formidable instrument of war. + +This feeling must be corrected by a study of history, and by recognizing +that there are no symptoms of deterioration in the sturdy qualities of the +Dutch people. Physically and morally the Netherlanders of to-day are the +equals of their forefathers, but the conditions of their national life, +the fortunate circumstances that have so long made them unacquainted with +the terrible ordeals of war, have diverted their thoughts from a bellicose +policy, and have confirmed them in their peaceful leanings. How far these +tendencies have diminished their fighting-power, and rendered them unequal +to accept or bear the sacrifices that would be entailed by any strenuous +defence of their country against serious invasion by a Great Power, must +remain a matter of opinion. Perhaps their organization has become somewhat +rusty. Reforms are admitted to be necessary. The annual contingent is +altogether too small for the needs of the age; a great and efficient +national reserve should be created; and in good time the army ought to be +raised to the numbers that would enable it to man and hold the numerous +and excellent forts which have been constructed at all vital points. The +Dutch plans of defence are excellent, but to carry them all out a very +considerable army would be necessary, and at the present moment Holland +possesses only the skeleton of an army. + +Leaving the question of numbers and military organization aside, only +praise can be given to the Dutch soldier individually. He is clean, civil, +good-tempered, and with a far closer resemblance to Englishmen in what we +regard as essentials than any other Continental. The officers are in the +truest sense gentlemen free from swagger, and not over-bearing towards +their men and their civilian compatriots. They represent a genuine type of +manhood, free from artificiality or falsehood. One feels instinctively +that they say what they think, and that they will do rather more instead +of less than they promise. + + + + +Chapter XXI + +Holland Over Sea + + + +Holland holds the second place among the successful colonizing nations, +though Powers like England, France, and Germany surpass her in the actual +area of their colonies and protectorates. Besides her East Indian +possessions, which form by far the most important part of her colonial +empire, she holds Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, and six small islands, +including Curaçao, in the West Indies, and her colonial subjects number +in all more than thirty-six millions, being as many as the colonial +subjects of France and at least seven times the population of the +Netherlands in Europe. The East Indian Archipelago belonging to the +Netherlands consists of five large islands and a great number of smaller +ones. It is not within the scope of a book like this to go into details +of geographical division, but a glance at the map will show us that the +three groups which make up this dependency are extended over a length of +about three thousand miles, and inclucle Java and Sumatra, Borneo, +Celebes, New Guinea, the Timor Laut archipelago, and the Moluccos. The +northern part of Borneo is a British possession, and the eastern half of +New Guinea is divided between England and Germany, while half of the +island of Timor is Portuguese; the rest of the archipelago forms the +possession known as Netherlands India, or the Dutch East Indies. The +most important and the most densely populated of these islands are Java +and Sumatra; at the last census, in 1899, Java alone had twenty-six +millions of inhabitants, more than four times as many as in 1826, but the +richness of its soil is so great that it could support a much larger +population, though the island is only about the same size as England. + +Java was taken by the English in 1811 from the French flag, but was +restored at the Peace of Vienna to the Netherlands, together with some of +the other Dutch colonies. As Dr. Bright remarks in his 'History of +England,' 'it has been believed that its value and wealth were not +thoroughly known or appreciated by the Ministry at the time.' It has now +become by far the most important of the Dutch dependencies, and the +favourite colony for fortune-hunters. + +Considering the great wealth of the Dutch Indies, it is a little +surprising that so few young men are tempted to go out there to seek +their fortunes. As is usually the case in the tropics, those parts of the +coasts which are low and marshy are very unhealthy for Europeans, who +cannot stay in such places for any length of time without falling victims +to malaria, though the Malays do not seem to be affected by the climate; +but higher up, from 500 to 1000 feet above the sea, it is healthy enough, +and up the hills, in the larger islands, the climate leaves little to be +desired. The temperature generally varies between 70 and 90 degrees all +the year round, though there is a certain amount of difference between +one island and another. North of the equator the rainy monsoon lasts from +October to April, and the dry season from April to October, while on the +south side these seasons are reversed. On the line, however, the +trade-winds and monsoons appear very irregularly, because there are four +seasons instead of two--that is to say, two rainy and two dry--and the +weather is also subject to frequent changes of a local character, +especially in the neighbourhood of mountain-ranges and volcanoes. With +the exception of Borneo and the central part of Celebes all these islands +are volcanic. In the principal group, which stretches from Sumatra and +Java to the Timor Laut archipelago, there are no less than thirty-three +active volcanoes, of which twelve are in Java, besides a number of +so-called extinct ones which may at any moment burst into renewed life. +Some of the smaller islands are merely sunken volcanoes, such as Gebeh, +for instance, and the Banda Islands, where the 'Goonong Api' +(Fire-Mountain) is a living proof. The best known of all these volcanoes +is the terrible Cracatao, one of the three which may be seen in the +Straits of Sunda. Readers may remember the great eruption of 1886, when +half the island of Cracatao and part of the mountain, which was split +clean in two, were swallowed up in the sea, and parts of the coasts of +Java and Sumatra were overwhelmed by the tidal wave that accompanied the +outburst, ships being lifted bodily on to the land and left perched among +the hills. In one day and night 100,000 persons perished, and except a +slight earthquake, which, as earthquakes are not uncommon in that part of +the world, was naturally not regarded as serious, there was no warning of +the impending disaster, for the crater had shown no signs of life for 200 +years. During the eruption a roar as of distant artillery could be heard +in the middle of Java, fully 400 miles from the scene. + +The form of the islands prevents the existence of very large rivers; the +largest are in Borneo, the only non-volcanic island in the archipelago +which can boast of three navigable rivers each about 400 miles long. +Owing to the narrowness of Java and Sumatra, the rivers flowing towards +the north-east coasts of these islands are very rapid, and as they are +liable to be suddenly swollen by heavy rains, canals have been dug, and +others are in course of construction, to ensure a regular outflow and +protect the land from floods. In an undertaking of this kind the Dutch are +quite at home, for, as every one knows, they are past masters in the art +of taming the waters; but they have not to push back the sea here, as they +have done and are still doing in their native country; the rivers do that +for them, by bringing down masses of gravel and mud, which form wide banks +at their mouths and are soon overgrown with trees. The lighthouse at +Batavia, in Java, was built about the middle of the seventeenth century at +what was then the entrance to the harbour; now it is two and a half miles +from the entrance, the shore having advanced that distance in 250 years. + +Before passing to the question of government, it may be well to notice the +principal races with which the Dutch have to deal. Besides the native +population, the Dutch Indies contained in 1892 about 446,000 Chinese, +20,000 Arabs, and 26,000 other Asiatics, but only 55,000 Europeans, +including the soldiers, many of whom are Germans. The greater part of all +these are found in Java. Of the remaining 355 millions the majority are +Malays, including Malays proper and several kindred races, and to this +last class belong the Javanese, who live in Java, Madura, Bally (or Bali), +and Lombok. Natives other than Malays are the Dyaks, in the interior of +Borneo; the Battaks, in the interior of Sumatra; and finally the Papuans, +who inhabit New Guinea, or Papua, and some of the small islands near. +These Papuans are said to be of the same race as the Australian +aborigines, and are the only black people in these islands, the other +inhabitants being light brown or copper-coloured. In religion, most of the +Malays are Mohammedans, but the people of Bally and Lombok are still +Brahmins, while the Dyaks and Battaks are of very primitive faiths. From +remote times until 1478 Brahminism and Buddhism were the principal +religions, but in that year the faith of Islam began to supersede them. +The ancient religions were responsible for a degree of civilization never +arrived at by the Mohammedans, traces of which are seen in the numerous +ruins of cities and temples that must have been of great beauty and +grandeur which are found in Java, and also in the Javanese literature, +which is written in its own peculiar characters, and the 'wayangs,' or +shadow-plays, which are performed on every festive occasion, and all of +which refer to a history of conquest and wars waged in the times of +Brahminism. + +Here the problem which confronts the Dutch authorities is the old one of +uniting under one Government populations differing in blood and religion, +a problem which always presents great difficulties and even a certain +amount of danger. The system adopted resembles, to some extent, that +applied to certain native States in British India, and the islands are +governed by native kings and princes, under the paternal supervision of +the Netherlands India Government, which consists of a Governor-General, or +Viceroy, and a Council of four Councillors of State, of which the Viceroy +is President. Under these there are three Governors and thirty-four +Residents, all Europeans, with several Assistant-Residents and +'Controleurs,' each of whom has a district assigned to him, in which he +has to maintain order and see that the land is kept in proper cultivation. +The Indian princes are made Government officials by the fact of being +paid by the Dutch Government, and bear the official titles of Regent, +'Demang,' etc., but they also keep their own grander-sounding titles, such +as 'Raden Adipatti,' and so on, of which they are naturally very proud. It +is the duty of a Resident to advise the Regent of his district and at the +same time to keep a watch on him and see that he does not oppress his +subjects. If a Regent is proved to be guilty of oppression, or in case of +sedition or the fostering of rebellion, he is deposed by the Government, +and a better man is appointed in his place, if possible one of his own +relatives, so that the lower classes may be protected and the authority of +the native nobility be upheld at the same time. In some 'up-country' +districts, in Borneo and Celebes, however, the native rulers are +practically independent, and the Dutch Government is not at present +inclined to assert its authority by force of arms; while in the north-west +of Sumatra, though the Atchinese pirates have at last been suppressed, the +war party is not yet extinct. + +Throughout these dependencies the aim of the Government is to rule the +inhabitants through men of their own race, not to substitute +foreigners for natives; and if fault can be found with this policy it +is that too little restraint is put upon the intermixture of the white +and coloured races. + +The splendid fertility of the soil and the great quantity of land yet +uncultivated naturally led the Dutch to seek some means by which the +natural advantages of their islands might be put to better use, and to +this end they set to work to overcome the indolent habits of the natives, +who were not inclined to do more than they considered necessary for their +own subsistence, and to induce them to devote more of their time and +energies to agriculture. In return for good roads and bridges and the +protection afforded by the Government, the natives were induced to give a +certain amount of their time to the cultivation of coffee, sugar, indigo, +and other crops. In this way they were taxed not in coin but in labour; +and this system, known as the 'Culture System,' has produced very good +results, especially in Java and Madura. Gradually, however, under the +influence of the younger members of the governing nation, the cultivation +of sugar and partly that of coffee also was dropped by the Government, and +left to private enterprise, but, supervision by the Government being +thereby abandoned, cases occurred of abuse of power by the +_concessionnaires_; and though much has been done to prevent such abuse, +it must be admitted that the condition of native workmen is not so good in +the private concessions as it was under the direct authority of the +Government. + +Meanwhile, the outlook is promising; the development of the natural +resources of the islands goes steadily on, though the rate of progress may +not be particularly rapid, and the inhabitants are generally peaceful and +well-behaved, while their number increases at a rate which seems to +indicate continued and growing prosperity. The schools, too, are doing +good work, and more and more of the natives are learning the language of +their rulers. When a Malay has learned enough Dutch to express himself +fairly clearly in that language, he is very proud of the accomplishment, +and seldom misses an opportunity of displaying his knowledge. + +One of the greatest drawbacks to the moral advance of the native is the +bad example set by Europeans, on which it will be needful to say more +later. Things are not nearly so bad in this respect as they formerly were, +but still the unprincipled life which many of the white men are leading +gives rise to doubt in the native mind as to the blessings of Western +civilization. + +That the native races are generally well-disposed towards the Dutch is +borne out by the number that take service under the Government as police +and as soldiers. Every two or three miles along the Government roads in +Java one may meet a 'Gardoe,' or patrol of the country police, consisting +of three bare-footed Javanese constables, in uniform of a semi-European +cut and armed with kreeses. + +As we have already seen, the Army which the Dutch maintain in their East +Indian colonies is quite distinct from the Home Army of Holland. On their +arrival the men are quartered in barracks, and the officers and married +non-commissioned officers find houses at a moderate rent close by. The +barracks consist not of single buildings but of many separate ones, so +that the different races among the native troops may be kept distinct. +Malays, Javanese, Madurese, Amboinese, Bugis, Macassarese, and the rest +must all have separate buildings to themselves. Formerly there were +Ashantees too, but the recruiting of these was stopped when the colony of +St. George del Mina, on the Gold Coast, was transferred to England on the +surrender of British claims in the north of Sumatra; very good soldiers +they were, but cruel in war, giving no quarter, and very difficult to +restrain in the heat of action. The native troops are officered by +Europeans, but the sergeants and corporals are always of the same race as +the men under them. + +Great care is taken to safeguard the health of the troops, not only in the +arrangement of barracks and in the selection of positions for garrisons, +which are chosen as much on hygienic as on strategic grounds, but also by +the establishment of military hospitals. In most large towns, and in +smaller places on the coast where forts have been built, there are +military hospitals, and to these any European, whether soldier or +civilian, who falls ill is immediately taken; in fact, no others exist, +except some sanatoria recently founded in the hills. A naval officer who +often visited these hospitals, as well as hospital ships in war time, +describes them as 'models of neatness, cleanliness, order, and +usefulness.' 'Life in such a hospital,' he declares, 'is a luxury, not to +be compared with anything of the kind in neighbouring colonies.' + +For many years a considerable force has been constantly employed in +Atchin, and a number of ships of war have been cruising along the coast to +assist in the suppression of piracy. + +The Colonial Fleet is made up of some warships built in Holland and others +built in India, expressly for the Indian service, including a number of +small coasting-steamers and sailing-vessels, and a steamer or two +specially detailed for hydrographical work. The necessity for these last +arises from the shoals and coral-reefs which abound in the Java and Flores +Seas, in the Straits of Macassar, and among the Moluccos, and from the +fact that the creeks and river-mouths are very shallow, and full of +convenient hiding-places for pirate proas; it is most important, +therefore, that both men-of-war and merchantmen should be kept supplied +with good charts. + +Piracy is an evil which the Colonial Fleet is specially designed to check, +and it used to be very bad at one time before the Ballinese War of 1845. +In the year before this, a Dutch merchantman, the _Overyssel_, stranded on +the coast of Bally, and the crew were massacred, and ship and cargo looted +by the Ballinese. This led to three expeditions; one in 1845, another, +which was undertaken with an insufficient force and ended in disaster to +the Dutch, in 1847, and the third and final one, successfully carried out +by an army of 10,000 men and six warships, together with 6000 auxiliary +troops from the island of Lombok. But while piracy was thus put down to +the east of Java, the Atchinese pirates grew bolder than ever in the west, +and complaints from Malay traders who were Netherlands subjects became +more and more frequent. Numerous punitive expeditions were sent against +the piratical Rajas in the north-west of Sumatra, but in most cases the +real culprits escaped. At last, about 1873, the Government resolved to put +an end to this state of things, and a force under General van Swieten +seized the Kraton, or chief fortress. General van der Heyden took over the +command in 1877, and soon captured and fortified Kota Raja, and two years +later, though his troops suffered heavily from the climate, he had the +whole country of Atchin subdued. The Home Government, however, misled by +the apparent submission of the enemy, did away with military rule before +they had made certain that no treachery was meditated, and on the arrival +of a civil Governor all the advantages which had been won were again lost, +and at last a state of war had to be proclaimed once more. From that time +onward the Atchinese War became a chronic disease, but since an aggressive +policy was adopted in 1898 the war party in Atchin has rapidly diminished, +and it is now almost extinct. Fighting of a guerilla kind is reported from +time to time, but peace is so far restored that the General is able to +send some of his men home, and the people can cultivate their rice-fields +and pepper-gardens unmolested. They are for the most part well disposed +towards the Dutch, whose officers, in their proclamations, have always +been careful to explain that the war was only against the murderers and +robbers who made the coasts and country unsafe, and that no one would be +harmed so long as he went peacefully about his business. Piracy on the +Atchinese coast is now also a thing of the past, and will be so as long as +the Government remains firm. + +To turn to more peaceful subjects, Netherlands India is favoured above +most lands in the richness and variety of its products, its mineral wealth +alone being sufficient to make it a most valuable possession from a +commercial point of view. A part of the Government revenue is derived from +the sale of tin, which is found in several islands, and coal-fields exist +in Sumatra and Laut, while gold is found on the west coast of Borneo and +also in Sumatra, where the Ophir district no doubt owes its name to the +presence of the precious metal. Another mineral product is petroleum, +which has made the fortunes of several lucky colonists; it is found in +many places, but the principal supply comes from Sumatra. These are some +of the chief products, but they by no means exhaust the list, nor is the +wealth of the colonies confined to minerals; there are the +pearl-fisheries, for example, amongst the little islands lying south-west +of New Guinea, and the Moluccos contribute mother-of-pearl and +tortoise-shell, but the real wealth of the islands lies in the +extraordinary fertility of the soil. Most of the land is clay, coloured +red by the iron ore which it contains, and will grow almost anything, +besides being very suitable for making bricks. Sugar, tea, coffee, indigo, +and tobacco are grown in large quantities for export, and the principal +crops cultivated by the natives are rice (in the marshy districts), maize, +cotton, and many kinds of fruit which are also grown in British India. +Most of the inhabitants are tillers of the soil, but the maritime natives +are naturally occupied chiefly in the fisheries, and it is a very pretty +sight, at any little fishing village, to see the boats start out for the +hoped-for haul. Just before sunrise scores of little fishing-boats with +bamboo masts and huge triangular mat-sails slip out of the creeks before +the fresh land-wind, which lasts just long enough to carry them to the +fishing-ground in the offing, and about four o'clock in the afternoon a +sea-breeze springs up, and back they all come, generally laden with +splendid fish. The evening breeze often attains such strength that the +little boats would capsize if it were not for a balancing-board pushed out +to windward, on which one or two, or sometimes three, men stand to act as +a counterpoise, so that it may not be necessary to shorten sail. The +Malays excel in boat-building, and rank very high in the art of shaping +vessels which offer the least possible resistance to the water, and their +boats fly over the surface of the sea in the most wonderful manner. If we +except the rude tree-trunks used here and there, the vessels made by the +Malays may serve, and have served, as models for swift sailing-craft all +over the world. + +Amongst the other industries for which the Malays, and the Javanese +especially, are noted, the principal is the manufacture of textile +fabrics; sometimes these are very skilfully dyed in ornamental patterns, +and show considerable artistic taste. + +Besides boat-building and weaving, the crafts of the blacksmith and +carpenter should be mentioned, and also that of the gold and silver smith, +for this indicates the source of many of the treasures with which wealthy +Dutch homes in the old country abound. + +Now that the war in Atchin is practically over it is not unlikely that +the next few years may see greater advances in the commerce and industries +of Netherlands India, especially as the trade returns report that a great +industrial awakening is taking place at the present time in Holland, in +which case there will be a rush of emigrants to the colonies. As has been +said before, the climate out there is not unhealthy as a rule, but of +course Europeans have to adapt their life to their surroundings. Profiting +by the example of the natives, they have learned to make their houses very +airy and cool. A large overhanging roof shades the entrances, front and +rear, and the windows are without glass, except in the old cities, its +place being taken by bamboo Venetian blinds. Verandahs run along the front +and back of the house, which has generally one story only, and never more +than two, and the rooms open either on these verandahs or on a central +room which divides the house through the middle. The kitchen and +store-rooms are in outbuildings at the back, and the garden all round the +house is planted with cocoanut, banana, and mango trees, for the sake of +their shade as well as for the fruit. + +On paying a visit to such a house you go up two or three steps on to the +front verandah, where a servant-boy offers you a chair and a drink, and +then goes to find his master, who presently joins you. You are never +asked to 'come in;' if the front verandah is too hot, an adjournment is +made to the back. Sometimes, in the interior of the country, visitors are +received in the garden, where they enjoy their cheroot Indian fashion, +reclining rather than sitting. But this _dolce far niente_ does not kill +work, for merchants in the towns work pretty hard, and have to be at +their offices during the heat of the day, from nine to five, and even on +Sunday, if it happens to be mail-day. Other people take life rather +easier, especially in the country, where the routine is as follows more +or less: rise at six, bathe, breakfast at seven; then dress and go to +work at nine; at twelve o'clock lunch, after which one lies down to sleep +or read for a couple of hours; tea at four, and then a second bath. After +five it is cool enough to dress and go for a walk or drive until +dinner-time, and after dinner you may go for another drive or visit your +neighbours. On Sundays you go to church from eleven to twelve, and take +things easy for the rest of the day. + +Travelling, if for any distance, is done at night, both by Europeans and +natives, and if a native has to walk far he usually carries a mat, and +when the day begins to get hot he unrolls his mat and lies down on it by +the roadside. It does not surprise any one, therefore, to find seeming +idlers asleep in the daytime along the roadside. Naturally, the little +wayside shops which are found at every corner are not shut up or removed +at night, as most of their trade is done then, but if customers are few +the shopkeeper will fall asleep among his wares. The Government roads are +well guarded by the native police, and at regular intervals there are +stations where fresh horses can be procured if they are bespoken in time +by letter or telegraph. + +The colonist's life does not seem to be a very hard one on the whole, +though no doubt there are drawbacks, such as, for instance, the want of +schools. At present many Dutch children born in India are sent to Holland +to be educated, not, as in the case of Anglo-Indians, for the sake of +their health, but because there is not a sufficient number of schools in +these colonies. This want will be remedied in time, so that colonists may +be spared the trouble and expense of sending their children to Europe; but +the only Dutch schools in Java that I know of are the 'Gymnasium' at +Willem III (Batavia) and one high school for girls. Native schools are +more numerous, and are being multiplied not only by the Government but by +the missionaries. The attitude of the Indian Government towards missionary +work has changed immensely for the better in the last forty years, and the +labours of the missionaries are now appreciated very highly by both the +Indian and the Home Government, and deservedly so, for the task of the +Government has been very much lightened through the improvement in the +attitude of the natives, owing largely to the work of the missions. + +As to the life and customs of the natives, it is not necessary to +describe all the different races, but the Malay villages deserve notice. +In Java and Sumatra these are not arranged in streets, but the houses are +grouped under large trees, and are separated from the road by a bamboo +fence, on the top of which notice boards are fixed at intervals bearing +the names of the villages; these are necessary, because it is often +difficult to see where one village ends and the next begins. In the open +spaces may be seen a few sacred 'waringin' trees, in which are hung +wooden bells, used to sound an alarm or call the villagers together. +Before the house of a native Regent is an open square, with a 'Pandoppo,' +or roof on pillars in the centre, and here meetings are held, +proclamations read, and distinguished visitors received. The houses are +built of bamboo and roofed with palm-leaves; and sometimes they have +floors of split bamboo, but often the hard clay soil serves as a floor. +There are usually two or more sleeping-places, called 'balé-balés,' also +made of bamboo, split and plaited, and over these another floor, which +forms a sort of loft or store-room. There is no fireplace, all the +cooking being done outside. Such a house can be bought for about five +shillings! It takes a few men two or three weeks to build one, but to +take it down and remove it to a new site is a matter of only a few hours. +Near the houses are the stables, where the buffaloes and carts are kept, +and here and there is a well, over which hangs a balancing-pole with a +bucket at one end and a stone at the other. + +The children play about naked until they are ten years old, when they +dress like their elders, and consider themselves men and women. The +costume of the Malay women consists of the 'sarong,' a cloth about 3½ +yards long and 1½ wide, which is wound round the body and held by a belt +and then rolled up just above the feet; over this a wide coat called a +'kabaya' is worn, and over all a 'slendang,' which is very like a +'sarong,' but is worn hanging over one shoulder, and in this is slung +anything too large to be easily carried in the hands--even the baby. The +men wear either 'sarongs' or trousers, or both, and a cotton jacket, and +are always armed either with kreeses or chopping-knives, carried in their +belts; the weapons are for cutting down cocoanuts and bamboo, and for +protection against snakes and tigers. Both sexes wear their hair long, the +men with head-cloths and the women with flowers and herbs, and all go +bare-footed. The men are very good horsemen, and ride, like the Zulus and +other coloured men, with only their big toes in the stirrups. + +In Bally and Lombok the inhabitants are of the same race as the people of +Java and Sumatra, but differ in religion and habits, having never been +wholly subjected by the Mohammedans. The difference is chiefly noticeable +in the construction of their houses, which are of stone in many cases, +and built in streets. Each house has three compartments and a fireplace, +or altar, which stands in the middle, opposite the door, the floors are +sometimes paved, and the roofs are often covered with tiles instead of +leaves, and supported by carved pillars. + +These Brahmins have numerous temples, which are quite different from +anything in the neighbouring islands, being built of brick and divided +into sections by low walls, but without roofs; walls and gates are painted +red, white, and blue, and inside stand a number of altars, on which +offerings are laid. Brahminism survives in some of the other islands, at +some distance from the coast, and occasionally a religious festival ends +in a riot between Brahmins and Mohammedans. + +The staple food of the Malay races is rice, which is cooked very dry, with +fried or dried fish or shrimps and vegetables, and flavoured with chilis, +onions, and salt. Dried beef and venison are also used, and wild pig and +chickens and ducks are plentiful; other articles of food being maize, +sweet potatoes, and many kinds of fruit, such as cocoa-nuts, bananas, +mangoes, mangusteens, and so on. In the Moluccos the staple crop is not +rice, but sago, which is prepared from the sap of the sago-palm. To an +inhabitant of Java or Sumatra the cocoa-nut tree is indispensable; when a +child is born, a nut is planted, and later on, if the child asks how old +he is, his mother shows him the young palm, and tells him that he is 'as +old as that cocoa-nut tree.' The nuts are boiled for the oil, and the +white flesh is eaten, cooked in various ways, generally with other food. +All kinds of provisions and other goods, from butcher's meat to needles +and thread, are sold at the 'passars,' or markets, which are attended by +large crowds. + +Mention has been made of the moral example set by some Europeans to the +natives. Generally the relations between the white and coloured races are +those of superiors and inferiors, but in the matter of matrimony there is +a difference. Many white men in Netherlands India never dream of marrying; +they take to themselves 'Njais,' or house-keepers. The same thing is done +in other colonies, at least in provinces far removed from European +society, when native customs allow it. The ancient customs of the Malays +and Javanese did not prescribe any religious ceremony for marriages; they +had their 'adat,' or customs, which were as strictly adhered to as if they +had been religious, but there was nothing consecrating the marriage tie. +Moreover, their notions of hospitality, which are similar to those of most +primitive races, no doubt encouraged the above-mentioned free marriages, +or at least they explain how it was that the Malay women had no objection +to becoming the 'Njais' of Europeans. Where such a woman was the daughter +of a prince or chief, the European who took her was invariably some high +official, whose position brought him into contact with noble Javanese +families. These young women are remarkably graceful, even fascinating, and +besides have received a good Javanese education, and it is not surprising +that such 'marriages' were sometimes happy and permanent. + +The sons were sent to Europe to be educated, being entrusted to the care +of a guardian, uncle, or friend, and on their return to India soon found +employment in the service of the Government; the girls stayed at home, and +generally married well. + +Such instances, however, are rare; more often the man regarded his 'Njai' +merely as a temporary helpmate, and if he saw a chance would marry some +rich European girl, when the Indian wife would be set aside--'sent into +the bush,' as the phrase was. That such behaviour should have roused the +wrath and hatred of the discarded wives and their relatives was but +natural. Often the European bride, sometimes the faithless husband too, +fell by the hand of a murderer who could never be found, or was poisoned +by a maidservant or cook who was bought over to assist in the work of +vengeance. The cast-out children sometimes played a part in these +tragedies; if not, they certainly retained a hatred of Europeans +generally, and rumours of mutiny were the consequence. + +How this state of things can be remedied is a question which has long +occupied the attention of the Government. Gradually, however, the mixed +population is becoming more educated, and can find employment in +Government and mercantile offices, as all excel in beautiful handwriting. +A better feeling generally exists, and a keener sense of social duty is +coming over the Europeans, so that a good many have really married the +mothers of their children, a thing which fifty years ago was never heard +of. There now exists a mixed race of Eurasians, children of the children +of European fathers and Indian mothers, which at one time threatened to +become a source of danger and insurrection, but all fear of trouble in +that quarter is past. Of the 'inland children' many are now receiving a +good education. In the Government schools they can learn enough to hold +their own in point of knowledge against a large proportion of the +Europeans in the colony, and they find employment in offices and shops, on +the railway and post-office staffs, and on public works almost as quickly +as pure whites. + + + + +Index + + + +Administrative system +Amusements, national +Army, the +Art, modern + +Canals and their population, the +Capital, life in the +Capital punishment +Characteristics, national +Christmas customs +Church, relation of State to +Churches, Dutch +Clergymen, Dutch +Colonies, the Dutch +Costume, rural +Court, the +Customs, popular + +Divorce, the law of +Dykes, the + +Easter customs +Education, public + +Farms and farmers +Freemasonry, Dutch +Friendly Societies +Funerals, customs at + +Games, children's +Girls, freedom of Dutch + +Home life + +Indies, the Dutch + +Justice, administration of + +'Kermis,' the + +Labour, conditions of +Law court, description of a Dutch +Literature and literary life + +Marriage and marriage customs +Music + +National Characteristics, types, +Navy, the +Newspapers, the + +'Palm Paschen,' +Peasantry, the +Poets, modern Dutch +Political life and parties +Press, the +Professional classes, the + +Queen Wilhelmina + +Readers, the Dutch as +Reading Societies +Religions life +Renaissance, the literary +'Rommelpot' +Rural customs + +Schools, the +Sculpture in Holland +Skaters, the Dutch as +Social life +Society, Dutch +Song, national love of +State, relation of Church to +St. Nicholas, festival of +Student life +Sunday in the country + +Theatre, the +Thrift, Dutch + +Universities, the + +Village life + +Wages of labour +Wedding customs +Women, position of +Working classes, the + + + +The End + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Dutch Life in Town and Country, by P. M. Hough + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY *** + +***** This file should be named 8823-8.txt or 8823-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/8/2/8823/ + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/8823-8.zip b/8823-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b91cd25 --- /dev/null +++ b/8823-8.zip diff --git a/8823-h.zip b/8823-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3db82be --- /dev/null +++ b/8823-h.zip diff --git a/8823-h/8823-h.htm b/8823-h/8823-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c0a576 --- /dev/null +++ b/8823-h/8823-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6981 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + +<head> +<title>Dutch Life in Town and Country, by P. M. Hough</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + h1,h2,h3,h4 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps } + h1 { margin-top: 2em } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + img { border-style: none } + --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dutch Life in Town and Country, by P. M. Hough + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Dutch Life in Town and Country + +Author: P. M. Hough + +Posting Date: February 19, 2015 [EBook #8823] +Release Date: September, 2005 +First Posted: August 13, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus01.png"><img src="images/illus01.png" alt="The Delft Gate at Rotterdam." title="The Delft Gate at Rotterdam." /><br /> +The Delft Gate at Rotterdam.</a></p> + + + +<h1>Dutch Life in Town and Country</h1> + +<p align="center" class="smallcaps">By</p> + +<h2>P. M. Hough, B.A.</h2> + +<h3>With Thirty-Two Illustrations</h3> + + + + +<h1>Contents</h1> + + +<ol style="list-style-type: upper-roman"> +<li><a href="#ch_01">National Characteristics</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_02">Court and Society</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_03">The Professional Classes</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_04">The Position of Women</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_05">The Workman of the Towns</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_06">The Canals and Their Population</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_07">A Dutch Village</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_08">The Peasant at Home</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_09">Rural Customs</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_10">Kermis and St. Nicholas</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_11">National Amusements</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_12">Music and the Theatre</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_13">Schools and School Life</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_14">The Universities</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_15">Art and Letters</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_16">The Dutch as Readers</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_17">Political Life and Thought</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_18">The Administration of Justice</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_19">Religious Life and Thought</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_20">The Army and Navy</a></li> +<li><a href="#ch_21">Holland Over Sea</a></li> +</ol> + +<p>Index</p> + + + + +<h1>List of Illustrations</h1> + + +<ul> +<li><a href="images/illus01.png">The Delft Gate at Rotterdam</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus02.png">Types of Zeeland Women</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus03.png">Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus04.png">A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus05.png">Dutch Fisher Girls</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus06.png">A Bridal Pair Driving Home</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus07.png">A Dutch Street Scene</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus08.png">A Sea-Going Canal</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus09.png">A Village in Dyke-Land</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus10.png">A Canal in Dordrecht</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus11.png">An Overyssel Farmhouse</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus12.png">An Overyssel Farmhouse</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus13.png">Approach to an Overyssel Farm</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus14.png">Zeeland Costume</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus15.png">Zeeland Costumes</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus16.png">An Itinerant Linen-Weaver</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus17.png">Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Linen-Press</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus18.png">Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus19.png">A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus20.png">Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus21.png">Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus22.png">Rommel Pot</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus23.png">A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus24.png">Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus25.png">An Overyssel Peasant Woman</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus26.png">Zeeland Children in State</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus27.png">Kermis 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!'</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus28.png">St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus29.png">Skating to Church</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus30.png">Parliament House at the Hague--View From the Great Lake</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus31.png">Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers Worshipped + Before Leaving for New England)</a></li> +<li><a href="images/illus32.png">Utrect Cathedral</a></li> +</ul> + + + + +<h1>Dutch Life in Town and Country</h1> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_01"></a>Chapter I</h1> + +<h2>National Characteristics</h2> + + + +<p>There is in human affairs a reason for everything we see, although not +always reason in everything. It is the part of the historian to seek in +the archives of a nation the reasons for the facts of common experience +and observation, it is the part of the philosopher to moralize upon +antecedent causes and present results. Neither of these positions is taken +up by the author of this little book. He merely, as a rule, gives the +picture of Dutch life now to be seen in the Netherlands, and in all things +tries to be scrupulously fair to a people renowned for their kindness and +courtesy to the stranger in their midst.</p> + +<p>And this strikes one first about Holland--that everything, except the old +Parish Churches, the Town Halls, the dykes and the trees, is in +miniature. The cities are not populous, the houses are not large, the +canals are not wide, and one can go from the most northern point in the +country to the most southern, or from the extreme east to the extreme +west, in a single day, and, if it be a summer's day, in <i>day-light</i>, +while from the top of the tower of the Cathedral at Utrecht one can look +over a large part of the land.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus02.png"><img src="images/illus02.png" alt="Types of Zeeland Women." title="Types of Zeeland Women." /><br /> +Types of Zeeland Women.</a></p> + +<p>As it is with the natural so it is with the political horizon. This latter +embraces for the average Dutchman the people of a country whose interests +seem to him bound up for the most part in the twelve thousand square miles +of lowland pressed into a corner of Europe; for, extensive as the Dutch +colonies are, they are not 'taken in' by the average Dutchman as are the +colonies of some other nations. There are one or two towns, such as The +Hague and Arnhem, where an Indo-Dutch Society may be found, consisting of +retired colonial civil servants, who very often have married Indian women, +and have either returned home to live on well-earned pensions or who +prefer to spend the money gained in India in the country which gave them +birth. But Holland has not yet begun to develop as far as she might the +great resources of Netherlands India, and therefore no very great amount +of interest is taken in the colonial possessions outside merely home, +official, or Indo Dutch society.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus03.png"><img src="images/illus03.png" alt="Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type." title="Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type." /><br /> +Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type.</a></p> + +<p>With regard to the affairs of his country generally, the state of mind of +the average Dutchman has been well described as that of a man well on in +years, who has amassed a fair fortune, and now takes things easily, and +loves to talk over the somewhat wild doings of his youth. Nothing is more +common than to hear the remarks from both old and young, 'We <i>have</i> been +great,' 'We have <i>had</i> our time,' 'Every nation reaches a climax;' and +certainly Holland has been very great in statesmen, patriots, theologians, +artists, explorers, colonizers, soldiers, sailors, and martyrs. The names +of William the Silent, Barneveldt, Arminius, Rembrandt, Rubens, Hobbema, +Grotius, De Ruyter, Erasmus, Ruysdael, Daendels, Van Speijk, Tromp afford +proof of the pertinacity, courage, and devotion of Netherland's sons in +the great movements which have sprung from her soil.</p> + +<p>To have successfully resisted the might of a Philip of Spain and the +strategy and cruelties of an Alva is alone a title-deed to imperishable +fame and honour. Dutch men and women fought and died at the dykes, and +suffered awful agonies on the rack and at the stake. 'They sang songs of +triumph,' so the record runs, 'while the grave diggers were shovelling +earth over their living faces.' It is not, therefore, to be wondered at +that a legacy of true and deep feeling has been bequeathed to their +descendants, and the very suspicion of injustice or infringement of what +they consider liberty sets the Dutchman's heart aflame with patriotic +devotion or private resentment. Phlegmatic, even comal, and most difficult +to move in most things, yet any 'interference' wakes up the dormant spirit +which that Prince of Orange so forcibly expressed when he said, in +response to a prudent soldier's ear of consequences if resistance were +persisted in, 'We can at least die in the last ditch.'</p> + +<p>Until one understands this tenacity in the Dutch character one cannot +reconcile the old world methods seen all over the country with the +advanced ideas expressed in conversation, books, and newspapers. The +Dutchman hates to be interfered with, and resents the advice of candid +friends, and cannot stand any 'chaff.' He has his kind of humour, which is +slow in expression and material in conception, but he does not understand +'banter.' He is liberal in theories, but intensely conservative in +practice. He will <i>agree</i> with a new theory, but often <i>do</i> as his +grandfather did, and so in Holland there may be seen very primitive +methods side by side with <i>fin de siècle</i> thought. In a <i>salon</i> in any +principal town there will be thought the most advanced, and manner of life +the most luxurious; but a stone's-throw off, in a cottage or in a +farmhouse just outside the town, may be witnessed the life of the +seventeenth century. Some of the reasons for this may be gathered from the +following pages as they describe the social life and usages of the people.</p> + +<p>In the seven provinces which comprise the Netherlands there are +considerable differences in scenery, race, dialect, pronunciation, and +religion, and therefore in the features and character of the people. +United provinces in the course of time effect a certain homogeneity of +purpose and interest, yet there are certain fundamental differences in +character. The Frisian differs from the Zeelander: one is fair and the +other dark, and both differ from the Hollander. And not only do the +provincials differ in character, dialect, and pronunciation from one +another, but also the inhabitants of some cities differ in these respects +from those of other cities. An educated Dutchman can tell at once if a man +comes from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, or The Hague. The 'cockney' of these +places differs, and of such pronunciations 'Hague Dutch' is considered the +worst, although--true to the analogy of London--the best Dutch is heard in +The Hague. This difference in 'civic' pronunciation is certainly very +remarkable when one remembers that The Hague and Rotterdam are only +sixteen miles apart, and The Hague and Amsterdam only forty miles. Arnhem +and The Hague are the two most cosmopolitan cities in the kingdom, and one +meets in their streets all sorts and conditions of the Netherlander.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus04.png"><img src="images/illus04.png" alt="A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type." title="A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type." /><br /> +A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type.</a></p> + +<p>All other towns are provincial in character and akin to the county-town +type. Even Amsterdam, the capital of the country, is only a commercial +capital. The Court is only there for a few days in each year; Parliament +does not meet there; the public offices are not situated there; and +diplomatic representatives are not accredited to the Court at Amsterdam +but to the Court at The Hague; and so Amsterdam is 'the city,' and no more +and no less. This Venice of the North looks coldly on the pleasure seeking +and loving Hague, and jealously on the thriving and rapidly increasing +port of Rotterdam, and its merchant princes build their villas in the +neighbouring and pleasant woods of Bussum and Hilversum, and near the +brilliantly-coloured bulb-gardens of Haarlem, living in these suburban +places during the summer months, while in winter they return to the fine +old houses in the Heerengracht and the many other 'grachten' through which +the waters of the canals move slowly to the river. But to The Hague the +city magnates seldom come, and the young men consider their contemporaries +of the Court capital wanting in energy and initiative, and very proud, and +so there is little communication between the two towns--between the City +and Belgravia. One knows, as one walks in the streets of Amsterdam, The +Hague, Rotterdam, or Utrecht, that each place is a microcosm devoted to +its own particular and narrow interests, and in these respects they are +survivals of the Italian cities of the Middle Ages. There is, indeed, +great similarity in the style of buildings, and, with the exception of +Maestricht, in the south of the country, which is mediæval and Flemish, +one always feels that one is in Holland. The neatness of the houses, the +straight trees fringing the roads, the canals and their smell, the +steam-trams, the sound of the conductor's horn and the bells of the +horse-trams, the type of policeman, and above and beyond all the universal +cigar--all these things are of a pattern, and that pattern is seen +everywhere, and it is not until one has lived in the country for some time +that one recognizes that there are differences in the mode of life in the +larger towns which are more real than apparent, and that this practical +isolation is not realized by the stranger.</p> + +<p>The country life of the peasant, however, is much more uniform in +character, in spite of the many differences in costume and in dialect. The +methods of agriculture are all equally old-fashioned, and the peasants +equally behind the times in thought. Their thrifty habits and devotion to +the soil of their country ensure them a living which is thrown away by the +country folk of other lands, who at the first opportunity flock into the +towns. But the Dutch peasant <i>is</i> a peasant, and does not mix, or want to +mix, with the townsman except in the way of business. He brings his garden +and farm produce for sale, and as soon as that is effected--generally very +much to his own advantage, for he is wonderfully 'slim'--he rattles back, +drawn by his dogs or little pony, to the farmhouse, and relates how he has +come safely back, his stock of produce diminished, but his stock of +inventions and subtleties improved and increased by contact with +housewives and shopkeepers, who do their best to drive a hard bargain. In +dealing with the 'boer' the townspeople's ingenuity is taxed to the utmost +in endeavouring to get the better of one whose nature is heavy but +cunning, and families who have dealt with the same 'boer' vendor for years +have to be as careful as if they were transacting business with an entire +stranger. The 'boer's' argument is simplicity itself: 'They try to get the +better of me, and I try to get the better of them'--and he <i>does</i> it!</p> + +<p>If, however, there are these differences between city and city and class +and class, there is one common characteristic of the Dutchman which, like +the mist which envelops meadow and street alike in Holland after a warm +day, pertains to the whole race, viz. his deliberation, that slowness of +thought, speech, and action which has given rise to such proverbs as 'You +will see such and such a thing done "in a Dutch month."' The Netherlander +is most difficult to move, but once roused he is far more difficult to +pacify. Many reasons are given for this 'phlegm,' and most people +attribute it to the climate, which is very much abused, especially by +Dutch people themselves, because of its sunlessness during the winter +months; though as a matter of fact the climate is not so very different +from that in the greater part of England. The temperature on an average is +a little higher in summer and a little lower in winter than in the eastern +part of England; but certainly there is in the southern part of the +country a softness in the air which is enervating, and in such places as +Flushing snow is seldom seen, and does not lie long. But the same thing is +seen in Cornwall. Hence this climatic influence is not a sufficient reason +in itself to account for the undeniable and general 'slowness' of the +Dutchman. It is to be found rather in the history of the country, which +has taught the Netherlander to attempt to prove by other people's +experience the value of new ideas, and only when he has done so will he +adopt them. This saps all initiative.</p> + +<p>There is a great lack of faith in everything, in secular as well as +religious matters, the Dutchman will risk nothing, for four cents' outlay +he must be quite certain of six cents in return. As long as he is in this +mood the country will 'mark time,' but not advance much. The Dutchman +believes so thoroughly in being comfortable, and, given a modest income +which he has inherited or gained, he will not only not go a penny beyond +it in his expenditure, but often he will live very much below it. He would +never think of 'living up to' his income; his idea is to leave his +children something very tangible in the shape of guldens. A small income +and little or no work is a far more agreeable prospect than a really busy +life allied to a large income. All the cautiousness of the Scotchman the +Dutchman has, but not the enterprise and industry. With his +cosmopolitanism, which he has gained by having to learn and converse in so +many languages, in order to transact the large transfer business of such a +country as the Netherlands, he has acquired all the various views of life +which cosmopolitanism opens to a man's mind. The Dutchman can talk upon +politics extremely well, but his interest is largely academic and not +personal; he is as a man who looks on and loves <i>desipere in loco</i>.</p> + +<p>The Dutchman is therefore a philosopher and a delightful <i>raconteur</i>, but +at present he is not doing any very great things in the international +battle of life, though when great necessity arises there is no man who can +do more or do better.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_02"></a>Chapter II</h1> + +<h2>Court and Society</h2> + + + +<p>Society life in Holland is, as everywhere else, the gentle art of escaping +self-confession of boredom. But society in Holland is far different from +society abroad, because The Hague, the official residence of Queen +Wilhelmina, is not only not the capital of her kingdom, but is only the +third town of the country so far as importance and population go. The +Hague is the royal residence and the seat of the Netherlands Government; +but although, as a rule, Cabinet Ministers live there, most of the members +of the First Chamber of the States-General live elsewhere, and a great +many of their colleagues of the Second Chamber follow their example, +preferring a couple of hours' railway travelling per day or per week +during the time the States sit, to a permanent stay. Hence, so far as +political importance goes, society has to do without it to a great extent. +Nor is The Hague a centre of science. The universities of Leyden, Utrecht, +and Amsterdam are very near, but, as the Dutch proverb judiciously says, +'Nearly is not half;' there is a vast difference between having the rose +and the thing next to it. In consequence the leading scientific men of the +Netherlands do not, as a rule, add the charm of their conversation to +social intercourse at The Hague.</p> + +<p>High life there is represented by members of the nobility and by such +high officials in the army, navy, and civil service as mix with that +nobility. Of course there are sets just as there are everywhere else, sets +as delightful to those who are in them as they are distasteful to +outsiders; but talent and money frequently succeed in making serious +inroads upon the preserves of noble birth. This is, however, unavoidable, +for the Netherlands were a republic for two centuries, and the scions of +the ancient houses are not over-numerous. They fought well in the wars of +their country against Spain, France, and Great Britain, but fighting well +in many cases meant extermination.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, two centuries of republican rule are apt to turn any +republicans into patricians, particularly so if they are prosperous, +self-confident, and well aware of their importance. And a patrician +republic necessarily turns into an oligarchy. The prince-merchants of +Holland were Holland's statesmen, Holland's absolute rulers; two centuries +of heroic struggles, intrepid energy, crowned with success on all sides, +may even account for their belief that they were entrusted by the Almighty +with a special mission to bring liberty, equal rights, and prosperity to +other nations.</p> + +<p>When, after Napoleon's downfall, the Netherlands constituted themselves a +kingdom, the depleted ranks of the aristocracy were soon amply filled from +these old patrician families. Clause 65 of the Netherlands constitution +says, 'The Queen grants nobility. No Dutchman may accept foreign +nobility.' This is the only occasion upon which the word nobility appears +in any code. No Act defines the status, privileges, or rights of this +nobility, because there are none. There is, however, a 'Hooge Raad van +Adel,' consisting of a permanent chairman, a permanent secretary, and +four members, whose functions it is to report on matters of nobility, +especially heraldic and genealogic, and on applications from Town Councils +which wish to use some crest or other. This 'High Council of Nobility' +acts under the supervision of the Minister of Justice, and its powers are +regulated by royal decrees, or writs in council. The titles used are +'Jonkheer' (Baronet) and 'Jonkvrouw,' Baron and Baroness, 'Graaf' (Earl) +and 'Gravin.' Marquess and Duke are not used as titles by Dutch noblemen. +If any man is ennobled, ail his children, sons as well as daughters, share +the privilege, so there is no 'courtesy title;' officially they are +indicated by the father's rank from the moment of their birth, but as long +as they are young it is the custom to address the boys as 'Jonker,' the +girls as 'Freule.'</p> + +<p>For the rest, life at The Hague is very much like life everywhere else. In +summer there is a general exodus to foreign countries; in winter, dinners, +bazaars, balls, theatre, opera, a few officiai Court functions, which may +become more numerous in the near future if the young Queen and Prince +Henry are so disposed, are the order of the day. For the present, 'Het +Loo,' that glorious country-seat in the centre of picturesque, hilly, +wooded Gelderland, continues to be the favourite residence of the Court, +and only during the colder season is the palace in the 'Noordeinde,' at +The Hague, inhabited by the Queen.</p> + +<p>Her Majesty, apparently full of youthful mirth and energy, enjoys her life +in a wholesome and genuine manner. State business is, of course, dutifully +transacted; but as the entire constitutional responsibility rests with the +Cabinet Ministers and the High Councils of State, she has no need to feel +undue anxiety about her decisions. She is well educated, a strong patriot, +and has on the whole a serions turn of mind, which came out in pathetic +beauty as she took the oath in the 'Nieuwe Kerk' of Amsterdam at her +coronation. How far she and her husband will influence and lead Society +life in Holland remains to be seen. Both are young, and their union is +younger still. During the late King's life and Queen Emma's subsequent +widowhood, society was for scores of years left to itself, and of course +it has settled down into certain grooves. But, on the other hand, the +tastes and inclinations of well-bred, well to do people, with an +inexhaustible amount of spare time on their hands, and an unlimited +appetite for amusement in their minds, are everywhere the same. Of course, +Ministerial receptions, political dinners, and the intercourse of +Ambassadors and foreign Ministers at The Hague form a special feature of +social life there, but here, again, The Hague is just like European +capitals generally.</p> + +<p>Once every year the Dutch Court and the Dutch capital proper meet. +Legally, by the way, it is inaccurate to indicate even Amsterdam as the +capital of Holland; no statute mentions a capital of the kingdom, but by +common consent Amsterdam, being the largest and most important town, is +always accorded that title, so highly valued by its inhabitants. The Royal +Palace in Amsterdam is royal enough, and it is also sufficiently palatial, +but it is no Royal Palace in the strict sense of the word. It was built +(1649-1655), and for centuries was used, as a Town Hall. As such it is a +masterpiece, and one's imagination can easily go back to the times when +the powerful and masterful Burgomasters and Sheriffs met in the almost +oppressing splendour of its vast hall. It is an ideal meeting-place for +stern merchants, enterprising shipowners, and energetic traders. Every +hall, every room, every ornament speaks of trade, trade, and trade again. +And there lies some grim irony in the fact that these merchants, whose +meeting-place is surmounted by the proud symbol of Atlas carrying the +globe, offered that mansion as a residence to their kings, when Holland +and Amsterdam could no longer boast of supporting the world by their +wealth and their energy.</p> + +<p>Here they meet once a year--the stern, ancient city, represented by its +sturdy citizens, its fair women, its proud inhabitants, and Holland's +youthful Queen, blossoming forth as a symbol of new, fresh life, fresh +hope and promise. Here they meet, the sons and daughters of the men and +women who never gave way, who saw their immense riches accrue, as their +liberties grew, by sheer force of will, by inflexible determination, by +dauntless power of purpose; here they meet, the last descendant of the +famous House of Orange-Nassau, the queenly bride, whose forefathers were +well entitled to let their proud war-cry resound on the battlefields of +Europe: 'À moi, généreux sang de Nassau!'</p> + +<p>When the Queen is in Amsterdam the citizens go out to the 'Dam,' the +Square where the palace stands, offering their homage by cheers and +waving of hats, and by singing the war-psalm of the old warriors of +William the Silent, 'Wilhelmus van Nassouwe.' Then the leaders of +Amsterdam, its merchants, scientists, and artists, leave their beautiful +homes on Heeren-and Keizers-gracht, with their wives and daughters +wrapped in costly garments, glittering in profusion of diamonds and +rubies and pearls, and drive to the huge palace to offer homage to their +Queen, just as proud as she, just as patriotic as she, just as faithful +and loyal as she.</p> + +<p>Three hundred years have done their incessant work in welding the House of +Orange and Amsterdam together; ruptures and quarrels have occurred; yet, +after every struggle, both found out that they could not well do without +each other; and now when the Queen and the city meet, mutual respect, +mutual confidence, and reciprocal affection attest the firm bond which +unites them.</p> + +<p>To the Amsterdam patriciate the yearly visit of the Queen is a social +function full of interest. To the Queen it is more than that; she visits +not only the patricians, she also visits the people, the poor and the +toilers. Of course Amsterdam has its Socialists, and a good many of them, +too, and Socialists are not only fiery but also vociferous republicans as +a rule, who believe that royalty and a queen are a blot upon modern +civilization. But their sentiments, however well uttered, are not popular. +For when 'Our Child,' as the Queen is still frequently called, drives +through the workmen's quarter of Amsterdam, the 'Jordaan' (a corruption of +the French <i>jardin</i>), the bunting is plentiful, the cheering and singing +are more so, and the general enthusiasm surpasses both. The 'man in the +street,' that remarkable political genius of the present age, has scarcely +ever wavered in his simple affection for his Prince and Princess of +Orange; and though this affection is personal, not political--for nothing +is political to 'the man in the street'--there it is none the less, and it +does not give way to either reasoning or prejudice.</p> + +<p>Such is the external side of Court life. Internally it strikes one as +simple and unaffected. Queen Emma was a lady possessing high +qualifications as a mother and as a ruler. She grasped with undeniable +shrewdness the popular taste and fancy, she had no difficulty in realizing +that her rather easy-going, sometimes blustering, Consort could have +retained a great deal more of his popularity by very simple means, if he +had cared to do so. She did care, so she allowed her little girl to be a +little girl, and she let the people notice it. She went about with her, +all through the country, and the people beheld not two proud princesses, +strutting about in high and mighty manner, but a gracions, kind lady and +an unaffected child. This child showed a genuine interest in sport in +Friesland, in excavations in Maastricht, in ships and quays and docks in +Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and in hospitals and orphanages everywhere. +Anecdotes came into existence--the little Queen had been seen at +'hop-scotch,' had refused to go to bed early, had annoyed her governess, +had been skating, had been snow balling her royal mother, etc. And later, +when she was driving or riding, when she attended State functions or paid +official visits, there was always a simplicity in her turn out, a quiet +dignity in her demeanour, which proved that she felt no particular desire +to advertise herself as one of the wealthiest sovereigns of the world by +the mere splendour of her surroundings.</p> + +<p>This supreme tact of Queen Emma resulted in her daughter being educated +as a queen, as the Dutch like their sovereigns. Court life in The Hague +or at the Loo certainly lacks neither dignity nor brilliancy, but it +lacks showiness, and many an English nobleman lives in a grander style +than Holland's Queen. Now, education may bend, but it does not alter a +charactcr, and whatever qualifies may have adorned or otherwise +influenced the late King, he was no more a stickler for etiquette or a +lover of display than Queen Emma has proved to be. So there is a +probability that their daughter will also be satisfied with very limited +show, and if Prince Henry be wise, he will not interfere with the Queen's +inclinations. He is said to be 'horsy,' but the same may be said of her, +though as yet her 'horsiness' has not become an absorbing passion, nor +is it likely to be.</p> + +<p>It is said also that she abhors music; but as long as she, as Queen, does +not transfer her abhorrence from the art to the artists, no harm will be +done. The facts are that, simple as her tastes are, she does not impose +her simplicity upon others. When she presides at State dinners or at Court +dinners, she is entirely the <i>grande dame</i>, but when she is allowed to be +wholly herself, in a small, quiet circle, she is praised by every one, low +or high, who has been favoured with an invitation to the royal table, for +her natural and unaffected manners, her urbanity, and her gentle courtesy.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_03"></a>Chapter III</h1> + +<h2>The Professional Classes</h2> + + + +<p>The professional classes of Holland show their characteristics best in the +social circle in which they move and find their most congenial +companionships. Imagine, then, that we are the guests of the charming wife +of a successful counsel ('advocaat en procureur')--Mr. Walraven, let us +call him--settled in a large and prosperous provincial town. She is a +typical Dutch lady, with bright complexion, kind, clear blue eyes, rather +dark eyebrows, which give a piquant air to the white and pink of the face, +and a mass of fair golden hair, simply but tastefully arranged, leaving +the ears free, and adorning but not hiding the comely shape of the head. +She wears a dark-brown silk dress, covered with fine Brussels lace around +the neck, at the wrists, along the bodice, and here and there on the +skirt. A few rings glitter on her fingers, and her hands are constantly +busy with a piece of point lace embroidery; for many Dutch ladies cannot +stand an evening without the companionship of a 'handwerkje,' as +fancy-needlework is called. It does not in the least interfere with their +conversational duties. She is rather tall. Dutch men and women seem to +have all sizes equally distributed amongst them; it cannot be said that +they are a short people, like the French and the Belgians, nor can the +indication of middle size be so rightly applied to them as to their +German neighbours, whereas the taller Anglo-Saxons can frequently find +their match in the Netherlands.</p> + +<p>The room in which we are seated is furnished in so-called 'old Dutch +style.' My friend and his wife have collected fine old wainscots, +sideboards and cupboards of richly carved oak in Friesland and in the +Flemish parts of Belgium. Their tables and chairs are all of the same +material and artistically cut. A very dark, greenish-grey paper covers the +walls; the curtains, the carpet, and the doors are in the same slightly +sombre shades. Venetian mirrors, Delft, Chinese and Rouen china plates, +arranged along the walls, over the carved oak bench, and on the +over-mantel, make delightful patches of bright colour in the room, and the +easy-chairs are as stylish as they are comfortable.</p> + +<p>Our visit has fallen in the late autumn, and the gas burns bnghtly in the +bronze chandelier, while the fire in the old-fashioned circulating stove, +a rare specimen of ancient Flemish design, makes the room look cosy and +hospitable. For the moment our friend the lawyer is absent. He has been +called away to his study, for a client has come to see him on urgent +business, and we are left in the gracious society of his wife in the +comfortable sitting-room. On the table the Japan tray, with its silver +teapot, sugar-basin, milk-jug and spoon-box of mother-of-pearl and +crystal, and its dark-blue real China cups and saucers, enjoys the company +of two silver boxes, on silver trays, full of all sorts of 'koekjes' +(sweet biscuits). Many Dutch families like to take a 'koekje' with their +tea, tea-time falling in Holland between 7 and 8 o'clock, half-way between +dinner at 5 or 6 p.m. and supper at 10 or 11 p.m. A cigar-stand is not +wanting, nor yet dainty ash-trays; while by the side of our hostess is an +old-fashioned brass 'komfoor,' or chafer,[Footnote: <i>Komfoor</i> (or +<i>kaffoor</i>) and <i>chafer</i> are etymologically the same word, derived from the +Latin <i>califacere</i>. The French member of the family is <i>chauffoir</i>.] on a +high foot, so that within easy reach of the lady's hand is the handle of +the brass kettle, in which the 'theewater' is boiling.</p> + +<p>Conversation turns from politics and literature to the ball to which my +hostess, her husband, and we as their guests have been invited at a +friend's house. She intends to go earlier; he and we are to follow later +in the evening, for that evening his 'Krans' is to meet at his house, and +it will keep us till eleven o'clock. A 'Krans' is simply a small company +of very good friends who meet, as a rule, once a month, at the house of +one of them, and at such meetings converse about things in general. The +English word for 'Krans' is 'wreath,' and the name indicates the intimate +and thoroughly friendly relations existing between the composing members. +They are twisted and twined together not merely by affectionate feeling, +but also by equality of social position, education, and intelligence.</p> + +<p>Our friend's little circle numbers seven, and as every one of them happens +to be the leading man in his profession in that town, and in consequence +wields a powerful influence, their 'Krans' is generally nicknamed the +'Heptarchy.' Our friend the lawyer is not only a popular legal adviser, +but as 'Wethouder' (alderman) for finance and public works he is the +much-admired originator of the rejuvenated town. The place had been +fortified in former days, but after the home defence of Holland was +re-organized and a System of defence on a coherent and logically +conceived basis accepted, all fortified towns disappeared and became open +cities, of which this was one. The public-spirited lawyer grasped the +situation at once, and, spurred by his influence and enthusiasm, the Town +Council adopted a large scheme of streets, roads, parks, and squares, so +that when all was completed the inhabitants of the old city scarcely knew +where they were. Besides this, he is legal adviser of the local branch of +the Netherlands Bank, a director on the boards of various limited +companies, and the president-director of a prosperous Savings Bank. +Nevertheless, he finds time in his crowded life to read a great deal, to +see his friends occasionally, and to keep up an incessant courtship of his +handsome wife, who in return asseverates that he is the most sociable +husband in the world.</p> + +<p>After Walraven has returned to the tea table, his admiring consort leaves +us, and shortly afterwards his best friend, within and without the +'Krans,' Dr. Klaassen, appears on the scene. He and Dr. Klaassen were +students at the same University, and nothing is better fitted to form +lifelong friendship than the freedom of Holland's University life and +University education. Dr. Klaassen is one of the most attractive types of +the Dutch medical man. His University examinations did not tie him too +tightly to his special science. Like ail Dutch students, he mixed freely +with future lawyers, clergymen, philosophers, and philologists, and it is +often said that while the University teaches young men chiefly sound +methods of work, students in Holland acquire quite as much instruction +from each other as from their professors. Doctor Klaassen left the +University as fresh as when he entered it, and ready to take a healthvariousest in ail departments of human affairs. He is a man to whom the +Homeric phrase might well be applied--'A physician is a man knowing more +than many others.'</p> + +<p>His non-professional work takes him to the boards and comrmttees of +societies promoting charity, ethics, religion, literature, and the fine +arts. The local branch of the famous 'Maatschappÿ tot Nut van 't Algemeen' +(the 'Society for promoting the Common-weal') and its various +institutions, schools, libraries, etc., find in him one of their most +energetic and faithful directors; a local hospital admitting people of all +religions denominations has grown up by his untiring energy; and he +prepared the basis upon which younger men afterwards built what is now a +model institution in Holland; nor does he forget the poor and the orphans, +to whom he gives quite half his time, though how much of his money he +gives them nobody knows, least of all he himself.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Mr. Barendsen, the third arrival, is a very different person. +His sermons are eloquent; he is a fluent speaker--too fluent, some say, +for words and phrases come so easily to him that the lack of thought is +not always felt by this preacher, although noticed by his flock. Now, a +sermon for Dutch Protestants is a difficult thing; it has to be long +enough to fill nearly a whole service of about two hours; and it is +listened to by educated and uneducated people, who all expect to be +edified. Dominee Barendsen, like so many of his colleagues, tries to meet +this difficulty by giving light nourishment in an attractive form. But if +his sermons do not succeed as well as his kind intentions deserve, his +influence is firmly established by his sympathetic personality. He may be +much more superficial than his two friends; he may be less dogged, less +tenacious than they; yet his fertile brain, his quick intelligence, and +his serious character have won for him a unique position, and his public +influence is very great. Both doctor and parson meet and mix in the best +society of the town, but the slums of the poor are also equally well known +to them; neither is a member of the Town Council, but the same +institutions have their common support. Livings in Holland are not +over-luxurious; and the consequence is that many 'Dominees' go out +lecturing, or make an additional income by translating or writing books. +Some of Holland's best and most successful authors and poets are, or were, +clergymen, such as Allard Pierson, P. A. de Génestet, Nicolaas Beets +(Hildebrand), Coenraad Busken Huet, J. J. L. ten Kate, Dr. Jan ten Brink, +Bernard ter Haar, etc. Dominee Barendsen is likewise well known in Dutch +literary circles.</p> + +<p>General Hendriks is the next to be announced. Dutch officers do not like +to go about in their uniform, but the gallant general is also expected at +the ball, and so he has donned his military garments. He is a 'Genist,' a +Royal Engineer, and had his education at the Royal Military Academy at +Breda. This means that he is no swashbuckler, but a genial, well-mannered, +open-minded and well-read gentleman, with a somewhat scientific turn of +mind and a rare freedom from military prejudice. Hollanders are not a +military people in the German sense, and fire-eaters and military fanatics +are rare, but they are rarest amongst the officers of the General Staff, +the Royal Engineers, and the Artillery.</p> + +<p>General Hendriks married a lady of title with a large fortune, so his +position is a very pleasant one. His friendship for the other +'Heptarchists' is necessarily of recent date, for he has been abroad a +great deal, and was five years in the Dutch East Indies fighting in the +endless war against Atchin. His stay there has widened his views still +more, and when he tells of his experiences he is at once interesting and +attractive, for he is well-informed and a charming <i>raconteur</i>. His rank +causes Society to impose on him duties which he is inclined to consider as +annoying, but he fulfils them graciously enough. He is a popular +president-director of the "Groote Societeit" (the Great Club), and of +Caecilia, the most prominent society for vocal and instrumental music; and +whenever races, competitions, exhibitions, bazaars, and similar social +functions, to which the Dutch are greatly addicted, take place, General +Hendriks is sure to be one of the honorary presidents, or at least a +member of the working board, and his urbanity and affability are certain +to ensure success. He has been a member of the States-General, and is said +to be a probable future Minister of War. But the weak spot in his heart is +for poetry and for literature generally; the number of poems he knows by +heart is marvellous, and at the meetings of the Heptarchy he freely +indulges his love of quotations, a pleasure he strictly denies himself in +other surroundings, for fear of boring people. But everybody has a dim +presumption that the general knows a good deal more than most people are +aware of, and this dim presumption is strengthened by the very firm +conviction that he is an exceedingly genial man and a 'jolly good fellow.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Ariens, Lit.D., 'Rector of the Gymnasium (equivalent to Head-master of +a Grammar School), is the most remarkable type even in this very +remarkable set of men. He is highly unconventional, and his boys adore +him, while his old boys admire him, and the parents are his perennial +debtors in gratitude. He is unconventional in everything, in his dress, in +his way of living, in his opinions and judgments, but he parades none of +these, reducing them to neither a whim nor a hobby. He passed some years +in the Dutch Indies, travelled all over Europe, knows more of Greek, +Latin, and antiquities than anybody else, and is as thoroughly scientific +as any University professer. But the Government will never give him a +vacant chair, for his pedagogical powers surpass even his scientific +abilities, and they cannot spare such men in such places. To some +aristocratic people his noble simple-mindedness is downright appalling; +but when he goes about in dull, cold, wintry weather and visits the poor +wretches in the slums, where nature and natural emotions and forms of +speech are quite unconventional, he is duly appreciated. For he is not +only a splendid 'gymnasii rector,' he is also a very charitable man, +though he likes only one form of charity, that by which the rich man first +educates himself into being the poor man's friend, and then only offers +his sympathy and help, the charity which the one can give and the other +take without either of them feeling degraded by the act. He is not a +public-body man, our 'Rector,' but his friends appreciate his keen, just +judgment. They may disagree with him on some points, but a discussion with +him is always interesting on account of his original, fresh method of +thought, and instructive by reason of his very superior and universal +knowledge.</p> + +<p>His best friend is Mr. Jacobs, a civil engineer. Dutch civil engineers are +educated at Delft, at the Polytechnic School, after having passed their +final examination at a 'Higher Burgher School.' Boys of sixteen or +seventeen are not fit to digest sciences by the dozen, and, however +pleasant and convenient it may be to become a walking cyclopedia, a +cyclopedia is not a living book, but a dead accumulation of dead +knowledge, which may inform though it does not educate. Happily, the +majority of Dutch engineers are saved by the Polytechnic School, where +they have about the same liberty as undergraduates at the Universities to +go their own way. Educationally they are not so well equipped, attention +only being paid to mental instruction, for the Director of a 'Higher +Burgher School' is a different man from the Rector of a Gymnasium, while +the System over which he presides is more or less incoherent so far as +educational considerations go.</p> + +<p>But if a civil engineer is a success he is generally a big one. So is Mr. +Jacobs. He is thoroughly well read, though his reading may be somewhat +desultory. His splendid memory, assisted by a remarkably quick wit, allows +him to feel interested in nearly everything--sociology, literature, art, +music, theatre, sport, charity, municipal enterprise. If he is +superficial, nobody notices it, for he is much too smart to show it. His +general level-headedness makes him an inexhaustible source of admiration +to Dr. Ariens, whose peer he is in kindness of heart. His manner is +irreproachable; he never loses his temper in discussion, and treats his +opponents in such a quiet, courteous way that they are obviously sorry to +disagree with him. His business capacities are of the first rank; he makes +as much money as he likes, and however crowded his life may be, he always +finds time for more work. He is a member of the Town Council and a staunch +supporter of Walraven's progressive plans. Walraven has certain misgivings +about Jacobs' thoroughness, but he fully realizes his friend's quick grasp +of things. He may build bridges, irrigate whole districts, and drain +marshes in Holland, open up mines in Spain, build docks in America, or +hunt for petroleum in Russia; he is always sure to succeed, and a fair +profit for himself, at any rate, is the invariable result of his +exertions. He travels a great deal, knows everybody everywhere, and always +turns up again in the old haunts, bristling with interesting information, +visibly enjoying his busy, full life, and not without a certain vanity, +arising from the feeling that his fellow-citizens are rather proud of him.</p> + +<p>The last to come is Mr. Smits, President of the Court of Justice, a man of +philosophical turn of mind, an ardent student of social problems, a fine +lawyer, a first-rate speaker, a shrewd judge of men, and a tolerant and +mild critic of their weaknesses. He also is a member of the Town Council, +and, like Jacobs, a member of a municipal committee of which Walraven is +the chairman. Their duties are the supervision and general management of +the communal trade and industry, such as tramways, gas-works, +water-supply, slaughter-houses, electrical supply, corn exchange, public +parks and public gardens, hothouses and plantations, etc. Smits is also +the chairman of two debating societies, one for workmen and the other for +the better educated classes; but social problems are the chief topics +discussed at both. These societies, he says, keep him well in touch with +the general drift of the popular mind; as a fact, by his encouraging ways, +he draws from the people what is in their thoughts and hearts, and very +often succeeds in correcting wrong impressions and conceptions. He is also +the Worshipful Master of the local Masonic lodge, 'The Three Rings,' so +called after the famous parable of religions tolerance in Lessing's noble +drama, <i>Nathan der Weise</i>. Dutch Freemasonry is not churchy as in England; +it is charitable, teaches ethics as distinct from, but not opposed to, +religion, admits men of all creeds and of no creed whatever, and preaches +tolerance all round; but it fights indifferentism, apathy, or carelessness +on all matters affecting the material, intellectual, and psychical +well-being of mankind.</p> + +<p>Smits feels very strongly on all these matters, and his enthusiasm is of +a staying kind; but the ancient device 'Suaviter in modo' has quite as +much charm for him as its counterpart, 'Fortiter in re.' The consequence +is that superficial people take him for a Socialist because he neither +prosecutes nor persecutes Socialists for the opinions they hold. Himself +an agnostic, and lacking religions sentiment, he realises so well the +supreme influence of religion on numberless people and the comfort they +derive from it, that many consider him not nearly firm enough in his +intercourse with Roman Catholics or 'orthodox' Protestants, with whom, in +fact, he frequently arranges political 'deals.' For Smits is, if not the +chairman, the most influential and active member of the Liberal caucus; +and, being in favour of proportional representation, he insists that the +other political parties shall have their fair number of Town Councillors.</p> + +<p>Such are the men who come together in this elegant and yet homely +sitting-room; each of them a leader in his profession, each of them coming +in daily and close contact with all sorts and conditions of men and women +in the town, and enabled by their wide and unbiassed views of humanity and +human affairaffairsntrol them and to divert the common energies in wise +paths. The 'Heptarchy' has, of course, no legal standing as such, but from +their conversations one understands the influence which its members wield +by their intellectual and moral superiority. They conspire in no way to +attain certain ends, but discuss things as intimately as only brothers or +man and wife can discuss them, in the genial intimacy of their unselfish +friendship. They generally agree on the lines to be taken in certain +matters, but even if they fail to agree, this does not prevent them from +acting according to their own rights, still respecting each other's +convictions and preferences. And not only local topics are discussed in +the meetings of the 'Heptarchy,' for politics, art, trade, and science, +foreign and Dutch, come within their scope; for their intellectual +outlook, like their sympathies, is universal.</p> + +<p>Towards eleven o'clock we take leave of each other. Walraven, Hendriks, +and ourselves go to the ball at the house of the 'Commissaris der +Koningin' (Queen's Commissioner), the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, Baron +Alma van Strae. Baron and Baroness Alma live in a palatial mansion, and we +find the huge reception and drawing rooms full of a gay crowd of young +folk. The rooms are beautifully decorated, there is a profusion of flowers +and palms in the halls and on the stairs; and a host of footmen in +bright-buttoned, buff-coloured livery coats, short trousers, and white +stockings, move quietly about, betraying the well-trained instincts of +hereditary lackeydom. There are county councillors, judges, officers of +army and navy, bankers, merchants, manufacturers, town councillors, the +mayor and town clerk, the president and some members of the Chamber of +Commerce, and committee-men of orphanages and homes for old people. All +have brought their wives, daughters, and sons to do the dancing, for +though they occasionally join themselves, they prefer to indulge in a +quiet game of whist or to settle down in Baron Alma's smoking and billiard +room for a cigar.</p> + +<p>These social fonctions, however, are much the same in Holland as in other +countries. Etiquette may differ in small details, but on the whole the +world of society lives the same life, cultivates the same interests, and +amuses or bores itself in much the same fashion. It is <i>tout comme chez +nous</i> in this as in nearly everything else.</p> + +<p>On the whole, this elegant crowd shows a somewhat greater amount of +deference towards professionals than towards officials. Doctors, lawyers, +and parsons are clearly highly esteemed; it is the victory of intellect in +a fair field of encounter. In The Hague the officials beat them, but not +so much on account of their office as in consrquence of the fact that so +many are titled persons, highly connected and frequently well off. But +after the great Revolution and the Napoleonic times officialdom lost its +influence and social importance in Holland in consequence of the +demolition of the oligarchic, patrician Republic; and clause five of the +Netherlands constitution, which declares that 'Every Netherlander may be +appointed to every public office,' is a very real and true description of +the actual, visible facts of social life.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_04"></a>Chapter IV</h1> + +<h2>The Position of Women</h2> + + + +<p>The Dutch woman, generally speaking, is not the 'new woman' in the sense +of taking any very definite part in the politics of the country. Neither +does she interest herself, or interfere, in ecclesiastical matters. +Dutchmen have not a very high opinion of the mental and administrative +qualities of their womenfolk outside of what is considered their sphere, +but for all that the women of the upper class are certainly more clever +than the men, but as they do not take any practical part in the questions +which are 'burning,' as far as any question does burn in this land of +dampness, their interest is academic rather than real. The wives of the +small shopkeeper, the artisan, and the peasant take much the same place as +women of these classes in other European countries. They are kind mothers, +thrifty housewives, very fond of their 'man,' not averse to the +fascinations of dress, and in their persons and houses extremely trim and +tidy, while the poorest quarters of the large towns are, compared with the +slums of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, pictures of neatness. It is +true that windows are seldom opened, for no Dutch window opens at the top, +and so in passing by an open door in the poor quarters of a town one gets +a whiff of an inside atmosphere which baffles description; but the inside +of the house is 'tidy,' and one can see the gleam of polished things, +telling of repeated rubbings, scrubbings, and scourings. In fact, +cleanliness in Holland has become almost a disease, and scrubbing and +banging go on from morning until night both outside and inside a house.</p> + +<p>Probably the abundant supply of water accounts for the universal washing, +for, not content with washing everything inside a house, they wash the +outside too, and even the bark of any trees which happen to lie within the +zone of operations. The plinths and bricks of the houses are scrubbed as +far as the arms can reach or a little hand-squirt can carry water. In +cottages both in town and country there is the same cleanliness, but the +people stop short of washing themselves, and the bath among the poorer +classes is practically unknown. People of this kind may not have had one +for thirty or forty years, and will receive the idea with derision and +look on the practice as a 'fad,' while the case of many animals is +seriously cited as an argument that it is quite unnecessary. A doctor told +me once of a rich old patient of the farming class near Utrecht who, on +being ordered a bath, said, 'Any amount of physic, but a bath--never!' On +the principle that you cannot do everything, personal cleanliness is apt +to go to the wall, and the energies of the Dutchwomen of the lower middle +and the poorer classes are concentrated on washing everything <i>inanimate,</i> +even the brick footpath before the houses, which accounts for the clean +appearance of the Dutch streets in town and country. Even a heavy downpour +of rain does not interfere with the housewife's or servant's weekly +practice, and you will see servants holding up umbrellas while they wash +the fronts of the houses. This excessive cleanliness, together with the +other household duties of mother and wife, fills up the ordinary day, and +a newspaper or book is seldom seen in their hands.</p> + +<p>Passing on to the middle class, we find the mistress's time largely taken +up with directing the servants and bargaining with the tradesmen, who in +many cases bring their goods round from house to house. The lady of the +house takes care to lock up everything after the supplies for the day have +been given out, and the little basket full of keys which she carries about +with her is a study in itself. Even in the upper class this locking up is +a general practice, for very few people keep a housekeeper. The mistress +also takes care of the 'pot.' This is an ingenious but objectionable +device to make a guest pay for his dinner. On leaving a house after dining +you give one of the servants a florin, and all the money so collected is +put into a box, and at certain times is divided between the servants, so +that a servant on applying for a situation asks what is the value of the +'pot' in the year. There are signs of this practice of feeing servants +after a dinner being done away with, for it spoils the idea of +hospitality, and one's host on bidding you 'Good-bye' resorts to many +little artifices in order not to see that you do fee his servant, added to +which you are very likely to shake hands with him with the florin in your +hand, which you have been furtively trying to transfer to the left hand +from the right, and very often the guest drops the wretched coin in his +efforts to give it unseen. It is to be hoped that the ladies of Holland +will succeed in abolishing a custom which is disagreeable alike to +entertainer and entertained.</p> + +<p>The women of the upper middle class are certainly much better educated +than their English sisters. They always can speak another language than +their own, and very often two, French and English now being common, while +a few add German and a little Italian, but most of them read German, if +they do not speak it. French is universal, however, for the French novel +is far more to the taste than the more sober English book. The number and +quality of these French books read by the Dutch young lady are enough to +astonish and probably shock an English girl, who reads often with +difficulty the safe 'Daudet' ('Sapho' excepted), but the young Dutchwoman +knows of no <i>Index Expurgatorius,</i> and reads what she likes. At the same +time the classics of England and Germany are very generally read and +valued, and many a Dutchwoman could pass a better examination on the text +and meaning of Shakespeare than the English-woman, whose knowledge is too +often limited to memories of the Cambridge texts of the great poets used +in schools.</p> + +<p>But, well educated as the Dutchwoman undoubtedly is, there is nothing +about her of the 'blue-stocking,' and she does not impress you as being +clever until a long acquaintance has brought out her many-sided knowledge. +The great pity is that her education leads to so little, for there are +very few channels into which a Dutchwoman can direct her knowledge. +Politics turn for the most part on differences in religions questions, +which are abstruse and dry to the feminine mind, and of practical +political life she sees nothing. There is no 'terrace,' no Primrose +League, no canvassing, no political <i>salon</i>, no excitement about +elections; and added to these negatives, women get snubbed if they venture +opinions on political matters, and young people generally look upon +politics <i>et hoc genus omne</i> as a bore, and the names of the great +statesmen at the helm of affairs are frequently not even known by the +younger generation. Little interest is also taken in the army and navy, +owing to the fact that there is so little active service in the former and +to the smallness of the latter; and woman does not care much about +orders, regulations, manoeuvres and comparative strengths--she wants +'heroes,' and to know what they have done, and does not consider what the +'services' might, could, or should do. The officers who have served in +India and have seen active service rank high in her estimation, but as +these are few, beyond the affection bestowed upon soldier husband, +brother, or lover, which is chiefly displayed in anxiety lest they should +be sent to do garrison duty in some town where social advantages are small +or <i>nil</i>, there is no great interest taken in army affairs by the +Dutchwoman. As to the navy, they philosophically acquiesce in the fact +that as a ship must sail on the water they must patiently bear the +necessary separation from their sailor friends.</p> + +<p>When we come to things ecclesiastical there is still less interest taken +in the Church. The Roman Catholic Church is outside the question, for the +position of the laity there has been well described as 'kneeling in front +of the altar, sitting under the pulpit, and putting one's hand in one's +pocket without demur when money is required.' The Protestant laity, +however, do not take any great interest in the National Church, and while +there are deaconesses devoted to nursing and all good works, as there are +<i>soeurs de charité</i> in the Roman communion, yet the rank and file of +Dutchwomen do not trouble about their church beyond attending it +occasionally--one may say, very occasionally. There is but little +brightness in the services of the Reformed Church, no ritual, no scope for +artistic work, no curates, and above and beyond ail, no career in the +Church for the clergy. At the best they may get sent to one of the large +towns, but the life is the same as in the village for the wife of the +'domine,' as the Dutch pastor is called. And if the domines move about in +fear and trembling because of the argus-eyes and often Midas-like ears of +the deacons, their wives must be still more discreet. One 'domine' has +been known to brave public opinion and ride a bicycle, but for a mother in +Israel to do the like would scandalize all good members of the Reformed +Church. The wives of the clergy, however, do good and useful work, and +probably are more real helpmeets to their husbands than women in any other +class of what may be called official life, but they take no sort of lead +in parochial or ecclesiastical matters. They do not direct the feminine +influences which do work in the parish, but rather take their place as one +of them. If, therefore, a woman marries a clergyman, she does so for love +of the man and his work's sake; there cannot be a tinge of ambition as to +the career of her husband, for there are no such things as comfortable +rectories and prospective deaneries or bishoprics, with their consequent +influence and power. Nothing but love of the man brings the 'domine' a +wife, and she knows that there will be inquisitorial eyes and not too kind +speeches about her behaviour from the 'faithful,' while the great people, +to their loss, will ignore her socially in much the same way as Queen +Elizabeth did the wives of the bishops in her day.</p> + +<p>Passing to lighter subjects, Dutch girls are now breaking loose from the +stiffness and espionage in which their mothers were brought up, and this +is without doubt in a large measure due to the introduction of sport. +Tennis, hockey, golf, and more especially bicycling have conferred, by +the force of circumstances, a freedom which strength of argument, +entreaty, and tears failed to effect. Mothers and and chaperons do not, +as a rule, bicycle, and play tennis and golf; they cannot always go to +club meetings, even to yawn through the sets, and so the young people +play by themselves, and there are fast growing a lack of restraint and a +healthy freedom of intercourse which are gravely deprecated by +grand-mammas, winked at by mothers, but enjoyed to the full by daughters. +But quidnuncs prophesy, however, that people will not marry as early as +of yore, for young people get to know one another too well by +unrestricted intercourse, and the halo with which each sex surrounds the +other is dispelled. Be this as it may, no Dutch girl wishes to go back to +the old days when she could go nowhere alone.</p> + +<p>Yet, however much men like to have women as companions in games, they are +not so willing to allow them much to say in matters which the masculine +mind considers its own province; for the fact is that most Dutchmen +consider women inferiors, and when there is a question of admittance into +literary or artistic circles and clubs, women's work has to be of an +undeniably high order. There are one or two ladies' clubs, but they do not +at present flourish, there being so few public platforms on which women +can meet, and so the 'social grade' determines women's relative position +by women's votes, and there is small chance of crossing the Rubicon then. +There is no doubt, however, that women in Holland are slowly winning their +way to greater independence of life. They are filling posts in public +offices; they are going to the universities; they are studying medicine +and qualifying as doctors; and no doubt they will in time compel men to +acknowledge their claims to live an independent life rather than a +dependent one. Besides, in Holland, as in other countries, the proportion +between the sexes is unequal, and so necessity will force open doors of +usefulness hitherto closed to women.</p> + +<p>The Dutchwoman dresses expensively in all the towns, and generally well. +The toilettes are mostly of a German model, which suits the build of the +Dutchwoman better than the fashions of Paris. Rarely, however, do women +dress in that simple style in vogue in English morning dress, and a Dutch +town or seaside resort is filled in the mornings with gay toilettes more +fitted for the Row or the Boulevard. Even when bicycling the majority do +not dress very simply.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus05.png"><img src="images/illus05.png" alt="Dutch Fisher-Girls." title="Dutch Fisher-Girls." /><br /> +Dutch Fisher-Girls.</a></p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus06.png"><img src="images/illus06.png" alt="A Bridal Pair Driving Home." title="A Bridal Pair Driving Home." /><br /> +A Bridal Pair Driving Home.</a></p> + +<p>Holland has always been noted for the variety and quaintness of its +provincial and even communal costumes, and these may all still be seen, +though they are dying out slowly. In some, and in fact many cases, a +modern bonnet is worn over a beautiful gold or silver headpiece, fringed +with lace, but ancient and modern do not in such cases harmonize. Of the +distinctly provincial costumes, that of Friesland is generally considered +the prettiest, but as illustrations are given of them all in a later +chapter, it must be left to the reader to decide the point for himself. +The fisherfolk more than any other retain their distinctive dress, +although even among them some of the children are habited according to +modern ideas, and certainly when the women are doomed to wear fourteen or +sixteen skirts, which have the effect of making them liable to pulmonary +complaints, it is surprising that modern fashions are not more generally +adopted. The plea for modernity in respect of Dutch national costumes is +considered rank heresy among artists, but the figures look better in a +picture and at a distance than in everyday life, added to which the custom +of cutting off or hiding the hair, which some of the head-dresses compel, +is not one to be encouraged; and it is a wonder that woman, who knows as a +rule her charms, has for so long consented to be deprived of one of the +chief ones. But in Holland, as in all countries where education is +spreading, cosmopolitanism in dress is increasing, and the picturesque +tends to give place to the convenient and in many cases the healthy.</p> + +<p>Marriage with all its preliminaries is woman's triumph, and in Holland she +makes the most of it. The manner of seeking a wife and proposing is no +doubt the same in the Netherlands as in other European countries, with the +exception of France; but once accepted, the happy man must resign himself +to the accustomed routine. First of all he exchanges rings, so that a man +who is engaged or married betrays the fact as well as a woman by a plain +gold ring worn on the third finger. A girl, therefore, has a better chance +against those who were 'deceivers ever' than in a country where no such +outward and visible sign exists. The engagement is announced by cards +being sent out, counter-signed by the parents on both sides, and a day is +fixed for receiving the congratulations. The betrothed are then considered +almost married. Engagements are, of course, frequently broken off, but +such a thing as an action for 'breach of promise' is impossible, and would +be considered most mercenary and mean. As a rule, engagements are not +long, and as soon as the wedding-day is agreed upon, the preceding +fortnight is filled with parties of various kinds, while there is another +great reception just before the wedding day, in which, as before, the +bride and bridegroom have to stand for hours receiving the congratulations +of their friends. Every now and then they will snatch a chance to sit +down, but another arrival brings them again to their feet, weary but +smiling. On the wedding morning the happy couple drive to the Town Hall; +for all marriages must first be celebrated by the civil authorities, and +so they appear before the Burgomaster, who says something appropriate, and +they make their vows and sign the papers, after which, if they desire it, +there is a service at the church which is called a 'Benediction,' at which +they are blessed, and have to listen to a long sermon, at the close of +which a Bible is given them. This sermon is not the least of the trying +experiences, for frequently many of the older members of the party are +reduced to tears by allusions to former members of the two families, and +all sorts of subjects alien to the particular service are introduced. At a +recent wedding known to me, the guests had to listen to a long address in +which the Transvaal War and the Paris Exhibition were commented upon. Not +only so, but no fewer than three collections are taken at the service, so +that people who desire to enter into the holy estate of matrimony must not +lack fortitude when they have made up their minds to it.</p> + +<p>But once married, a Dutch home is indeed 'Home, sweet home,' as is the +case more or less in all the northern countries, where the changeful +climate compels people to live a great deal within four walls. Dutch +fathers are kind, and the mothers are indulgent, and among the poorer +classes especially family affection is very great. Most beautiful and +touching instances might be abundantly quoted of family devotion, and a +society like that for the 'prevention of cruelty to children' would find +little to do in Holland.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_05"></a>Chapter V</h1> + +<h2>The Workman of the Towns</h2> + + + +<p>The condition of the Dutch urban working classes is by no means an +enviable one. Granting that wages are much higher than half a century ago, +when bread cost fivepence-halfpenny the loaf as against three halfpence +to-day, and when clothes and furniture cost fifty per cent. more than now, +the average working-man cannot be otherwise described than as distinctly +poor when compared with his English colleague. Yet it would be misleading +to judge exclusively by the scale of wages, and against making comparisons +of the kind the reader should at once be warned. The fact is that there +are very wide divergences of condition amongst the working classes of +Holland. A carpenter or a blacksmith earning from £1 to £1 10s. in weekly +wages all the year round will rank, if sober and well-behaved, as a +comparatively well-to-do workman. On the other hand, a bricklayer or a +painter, whose work in winter is very uncertain, and who earns, maybe, a +bare £1 a week during the nine months of the year wherein he can find +work, is a poor workman at the best, and his condition is greatly to be +deplored. More pitiable still, however, is the case of working-class +families in some of the manufacturing towns, where wages are still lower, +and where an even tolerable standard of life cannot be maintained unless +mother and children take their place in the factory side by side with the +head of the household as regular wage-earners.</p> + +<p>For, as labour is cheap and families are numerous in Holland, as soon as +the boys and girls have reached the sacramental age of twelve, at which +Dutch law allows them to work twelve hours a day, they leave school, and +enter the factory and workshop.</p> + +<p>It is no joke for these children, who have to leave their little beds, +frequently under the tiles, at 5 or 6 a.m., or earlier, summer and winter, +to gulp down some hot coffee, or what is conveniently called so, to +swallow a huge piece of the well-known Dutch 'Roggebrood,' or rye-bread, +and then to hurry, in their wooden shoes, through the quiet streets of the +town to their place of work.</p> + +<p>Sometimes they have time to return home at 8 or 8.30 a.m. for a second +hurried 'breakfast,' which as often as not is their first, for many of +them start the day's work on an empty stomach. Those who cannot run home +and back in the half-hour usually allowed for the first 'Schaft,' or +meal-time, take their bread-and-butter with them in a cotton or linen bag, +and their milk-and-water or coffee in a tin, and so shift as well as they +can. Dinner-time, as a rule, finds the whole family united from about +twelve until one o'clock or half-past in the kitchen at home. This kitchen +is, of course, used for cooking, washing, dwelling, and sleeping purposes. +The walls are whitewashed, and the floor consists of flag-stones. Of +luxury there is none, of comfort little. Generally the fare of the day is +potatoes, with some vegetable, carrots, turnips, cabbage, or beans. A +piece of bacon, rarely some beef, is sometimes added; while mutton is +hardly ever eaten in Holland, unless by very poor people. Fish is too +expensive for most of them, except fried kippers or bloaters. If there is +time over, and the house has a little garden attached to it, the children +help by watering the vegetables growing there, should it be summer-time, +or by making themselves generally useful. But at 1 or 1.30 they have to be +back at the workshop, and until 7 p.m. the drudgery goes on again. On +Saturday evening the boy brings his sixpence, or whatever his trifling +wages may be, to his mother. Rent and the club-money for illness and +funeral expenses must be at hand when the collectors call either on Sunday +or Monday morning. As a rule, though the exceptions are numerous enough, +the father also brings his whole pay with him; but drink is the curse--a +decreasing curse, it may be, but still a curse--of many a workman's +family, and in such cases the inroads it makes in the domestic budget are +very serious.</p> + +<p>So the boys grow up, in a busy, monotonous life, until they are called +upon to subject themselves to compulsory military service. Before they +become recruits they have usually joined various societies--debating, +theatrical, social, political, or other. Arnold Toynbee has a good many +admirers and followers in Holland, who do yeoman's work after his spirit, +and bring bright, healthy pleasure into the lives of these youthful +toilers. Divines of all denominations, Protestant and Catholic, have also +their 'At homes' and their 'Congregations,' and innocent amusement is not +unseldom mixed with religious teaching at their meetings. In this way, +too, a helpful, restraining influence is exerted upon youth. And gradually +the boy becomes a young man, associating with other young men, and, like +his wealthier neighbours, discussing the world's affairs, dreaming of +drastic reforms, and thinking less and less of the dreary home, where +father and mother, grown old before their time, are little more than the +people with whom he boards, and who take the whole or part of his wages, +allowing him some modest pocket-money for himself.</p> + +<p>In the meantime his sisters have been living with some middle-class +family, starting as errand-girls, being afterwards promoted to the +important position of 'kindermeid' or children's maid, though all the time +sleeping out, which means that before and after having toiled a whole day +for strangers, they do part of the housework for their mothers at home. +After some time, however, they find employment as housemaids, or in other +domestic positions. If they have the good fortune to find considerate yet +strict and conscientious mistresses, the best time of their life now +begins; there is no exhaustion from work, yet good food, good lodging, and +kind treatment. Should they care to cultivate the fine art of cooking, +they get instruction in that line, and are in most cases allowed to work +independently, and even, when reliable and trustworthy, to do the buying +of vegetables, etc., by themselves in the market-places, which all Dutch +towns boast of, and in which the produce of the land is offered for sale +in abundance and appetizing freshness. All this tends to teach a +servant-girl how to use alike her eyes, hands, and brain, and to educate +her into a thrifty, industrious, and tidy workman's wife, who will know +how to make both ends meet, however short her resources may be. This is +one of the reasons why so many Dutch workmen's homes, notwithstanding the +low wages, have an appearance of snug prosperity--the women there have +learned how to make a little go a long way.</p> + +<p>And how about their future husbands? Have they, too, learned their trade? +Perhaps; if they are particularly strong, shrewd, industrious, and +persevering, though technical education ('ambachtsonderwys') is much a +thing of the future in Holland.</p> + +<p>In the general course of life a boy goes to a trade which offers him the +highest wages. If he can begin by earning eightpence a week, he will not +go elsewhere to earn sixpence if the wear and tear of shoes and clothes is +the same in both cases, although the sixpenny occupation may perhaps be +better suited to his tastes, ability, and general aptitude. To his mother +the extra two pence are a consideration; they may cover some weekly +contribution to a necessary fund. Running errands is his first work, until +accidentally some workman or some apprentice leaves the shop, in which +case he is moved up, and a new boy has the errands to do. But now he must +look out for himself; his master is not over-anxious to let him learn all +the ins and outs of the work, for as soon as his competitors hear that he +has a very clever boy in his shop, he is sure to lose that boy, who is +tempted away by the offer of better pay. Nor are the workmen greatly +inclined to impart their little secrets, to explain this thing and that, +and so help the young fellow on. Why should they? Nobody did it for them; +they got their qualifications by their own unaided exertions--let the boy +do the same. Moreover, the 'baas,' or chief, does not like them to 'waste +their time' in that manner, and the 'baas' is the dispenser of their +bread-and-butter; so the boy is, as a rule, regarded merely as a nuisance.</p> + +<p>There are workshops, first-class workshops, too, where no apprentices have +been admitted for dozens of years, simply because the employers do not see +their way to make an efficient agreement with the boys or their parents +which would prevent them from letting a competitor enjoy the results of +their technical instruction. One would not be astonished that in these +circumstances all over Holland the want of technical schools is badly +felt, and that agitation for their provision is active. Only some +twenty-four such schools exist at present; the oldest, that at Amsterdam, +dates from 1861, and the youngest, that of Nymegen, was established in +1900. Partly municipal schools, partly schools built by the private effort +of citizens, they all do their work well. It is only during the last few +years that the nation has begun to ask whether technical education ought +not to be taken up by the State. The Dutch like private enterprise in +everything, and are always inclined to prefer it to State or municipal +action; but they have come to recognize that technical schools may be good +schools, and may do good work on behalf of the much-needed improvement of +handicraft, even though not private ventures, and that so far this branch +of national education has not kept up with the times.</p> + +<p>The idea which will probably in the end gain the day, is that the +Technical Schools should be managed by the town councils and subsidized by +the State, who in return would receive the right of supervision and +inspection, and of laying down general rules for their curricula. For the +present, however, there is no law settling the question, and the +apprentices are the sufferers by the lack, since the employers shrink from +employing their means, time, and knowledge on behalf of unscrupulous +competitors.</p> + +<p>In general the life of an urban working-man is a constant struggle against +poverty and sickness. Children come plentifully, rather too much so for +the unelastic possibilities of their parents' wages. The young wife does +not get stronger by frequent confinements; and the fare is bound to get +less nourishing as the mouths round the domestic board increase--always +simple, it often becomes insufficient. The mother, working hard already, +has to work harder still and to do laundry work at home or go out as a +charwoman, in order to increase the modest income. In industrial centres +women frequently work in the factories as well, though the law does at +least protect them against too long hours and premature work after +confinement.</p> + +<p>Thanks to the Dutch thrift, burial funds and sickness funds come promptly +to the rescue when death lays his iron grip on the wasted form of the poor +town-bred babies, when illness saps the man's power to earn his usual +wages, and the family's income is for the time cut off. Of these benefit +funds there are about 450 in Holland, distributed amongst some 150 towns. +Half of them are burial funds, and half mixed burial and sickness funds; +their members number about two millions; yet, although they certainly do +much to prevent extreme poverty, they do it in a manner which in many +cases is little short of a scandal. Their legal status is rather +uncertain, and in consequence many managers do as they like, and make a +good thing for themselves out of their duty to the poor. Too often these +managers are supreme controllers of the funds, and the members have no +influence whatever. In many cases the only official the latter know is the +collector, who calls at their houses for the weekly contributions. This +official frequently resorts to questionable tricks for extorting money +from the poor helpless members, who simply and confidently pay what they +are told to pay--small sums, of course, a few cents or pence, it may be, +but still 'adding up' in the long run--and when sorrow and death enter +their humble dwellings they are easily imposed upon by cool scoundrels, +who trade on their disinclination to quarrel about money when there is a +corpse in the house.</p> + +<p>Another danger of the irregular condition of these funds lies in the fact +that outsiders may take out policies on the lives of certain families. A +few years ago the country was shocked by the alarming story of a woman who +had poisoned a series of persons merely to be able to get the funeral +expenses paid to herself, while many a wretched little baby has in this +manner been the horrible investment of heartless neighbours, who, knowing +the poor thing was dying, took out policies for its funeral. For medical +examination is not required for these beautifully managed associations. +Their premiums are, however, so high that this detail does not materially +affect their sound financial position; and this being the case, it cannot +be denied that the absence of such examinations considerably increases +their general utility for the labouring classes.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus07.png"><img src="images/illus07.png" alt="A Dutch Street Scene." title="A Dutch Street Scene." /><br /> +A Dutch Street Scene.</a></p> + +<p>The clubs for preventing financial loss by illness do require a medical +examination. They number in Holland nearly 700, distributed in over 300 +towns. Some allow a fixed sum of money during illness, others provide +doctor and medicines, others do both. But the same objections and +grievances which workmen entertain against burial funds apply likewise to +these latter clubs. The curious thing is that, instead of grumbling, the +workman does not make up his mind to mend matters by insisting on having a +share in the management of societies and funds to which he has contributed +so large a part of his earnings. As yet, however, the Dutch labouring +classes have not found the man who is able to organize them for this or +other purposes. They have able advocates, eloquent, passionate reformers, +straightforward, honest friends, but the work of these is more destructive +criticism than constructive organization. Where organization exists, it is +political, social, religious, but not industrial--local, but not +universal, and it often has the bitter suggestion of charity. On the other +hand, the poor fellows have so often been imposed upon that they feel very +little confidence in each other and in the wealthier classes who profess +deep interest in their woes and sorrows. There are no very large +industrial centres in Holland; the wages are so low that most workmen are +obliged to find supplementary incomes, either by doing overtime, or by +doing odd jobs after the regular day's work is over. Hence there is not +much time or energy left for the common cause. Some great employers, like +Mr. J.C. van Marken, of Delft, and Messrs. Stork Brothers, of Hengeloo, +have organizations of their own, by which important ameliorations are +obtained; but smaller employers hear the labour leaders constantly +deprecating such efforts and preaching the blessings of Social Democracy +as the true panacea, so they do not see why they should put themselves to +any inconvenience or expense for the sake of earning abuse and +ingratitude.</p> + +<p>Moreover, many of these employers adhere to the obsolete maxim of the +Manchester economists, that labour is merely a sort of merchandise, of +which the workman keeps a certain stock-in-trade, and that the +capitalist's simple task, as a man of business, is to buy that labour as +cheaply as possible, and that he has done with the seller as soon as his +stock-in-trade is exhausted. Happily, a good many others understand now +that in the long run this ridiculous theory is quite as bad for the State +as killing was for the fowl which laid the golden eggs.</p> + +<p>At all events, the feelings of the workman for his 'patroon,' as the old +name still in use calls the employer, are none of the kindest. Sweating is +a much less common occurrence in Holland than it was some twenty years +ago; but while it would be mere demagogic clap-trap to speak of the +remorseless exhaustion of labour by capital, there is nevertheless room +enough for the cultivation of greater amenity between the two. And so it +will remain for some time to come. Social legislation may do a great deal +in the course of time, but it cannot do everything, and at best it must +follow the awakening of the popular conscience. Hence progress must be +made step by step, for nothing is so menacing to the stability of the +social fabric as sudden changes, and a wise statesman prefers to let every +one of his acts do its own work, and produce its own consequences, before +he risks the next move. The disintegration of social life is much worse +than social misery, for disintegration makes misery universal, and throws +innumerable obstacles in the way towards restoration.</p> + +<p>And, however much the Dutch understand the workman's feelings and +position, however much they all long to see the latter improved, they also +have learned enough of social and political history to know that for the +community in general the only wise and safe principle of action is +progress by degrees--evolution, not revolution.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_06"></a>Chapter VI</h1> + +<h2>The Canals and Their Population</h2> + + + +<p>When Drusus a few years before the commencement of our era excavated the +Yssel canal, and thus gave a new arm to the Rhine, he began a process of +canalization in the Frisian and Batavian provinces which has been going on +more or less ever since. To the foreigner Holland or the Northern +Netherlands must always appear a land of dykes and canals, the one not +more important for protection than the other as an artery of +communication; spreading commerce and supporting national life. Napoleon, +with <i>naïve</i> comprehensiveness, called Holland the alluvion of French +rivers. Dutch patriots declare with legitimate pride, 'God gave us the +sea, but we made the shore,' and no one who has seen the artificial +barrier that guards the mainland from the Hook to the Texel will disparage +their achievement or scoff at their pretensions.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus08.png"><img src="images/illus08.png" alt="A Sea-Going Canal." title="A Sea-Going Canal." /><br /> +A Sea-Going Canal.</a></p> + +<p>The sea-dyke saves Holland from the Northern Ocean, sombre and grey in its +most genial mood, menacing and stormy for the long winter of our northern +hemisphere; but it is to the inland dykes that protect the low-lying +polders that Holland owes her prosperity and the sources of wealth which +have made her inhabitants a nation. The original character of the country, +a marshland intersected by the numerous channels of the Rhine and the +Meuse, rendered it imperative that the System of dykes should be +accompanied by a brother system of canals. The over-abundant waters had +not merely to be arrested, they had to be confined and led off into +prepared channels. In this manner also they were made to serve the +purposes of man. High-roads across swamps were either impracticable or too +costly; but canals furnished a sure and convenient means of transport and +communication.</p> + +<p>At the same time they did not imperil the security of the country. Roads +on causeways or reared on sunken piles would have opened the door to an +invader, but the canals provided an additional weapon of defence, for the +opening of the dykes sufficed to turn the country again into its primeval +state of marshland. The occasion on which this measure alone saved +Holland during the French invasion of 1670 is a well-known passage in +history, and the hopes of the Dutch in resisting the attack of any +powerful aggressor would centre in the same measure of defence, which is +the submerging of the country, practically speaking, under the waters of +the canals and rivers. There exists a popular belief that there is at +Amsterdam one master key, a turn of which would let loose the waters over +the land, but whether it is well founded or not no one except a very few +officials can say.</p> + +<p>Pending any unfortunate necessity for breaking through the dykes and +letting loose the waters, it may be observed in passing that the effectual +maintenance of the dykes is a constant anxiety, and entails strenuous +exertions. They stand in need of repeated repairing, and it is computed +that they are completely reconstructed in the course of every four or five +years. A sum of nearly a million sterling is spent annually on the work. +A large and specially trained staff of engineers are in unceasing harness, +a numerous band of dyke watchers are constantly on the look-out, and when +they raise the shout, 'Come out! come out!' not a man, woman, or child +must hold back from the summons to strengthen the weak points through +which threatens to pass the flood that would overwhelm the land. It is a +constant struggle with nature, in which the victory rests with man. As the +dyke is the bulwark of Dutch prosperity in peace, it might be converted +into the ally of despairing patriotism in war.</p> + +<p>There are marked differences among the canals. The two largest and best +known canals, the North Canal and the North Sea Canal, are passages to the +ocean for the largest ships, and specially intended to benefit the trade +of Amsterdam. The North Canal was made in 1819-25, soon after the +restoration of the House of Orange, with an outlet at Helder, near the +mouth of the Texel. It has a breadth of between 40 and 50 yards, a length +of 50 miles, and a depth of 20 feet, which was then thought ample. After +forty years' use this canal was found inadequate from every point of view. +It was accordingly decided to construct a new canal direct from Amsterdam +to Ymuiden across the narrowest strip of Holland. Although the Y was +utilized, the labour on this canal was immense, and occupied a period of +eleven years, being finally thrown open to navigation in 1877. In length +it is under 16 miles, but its average breadth is 100 yards, and the depth +varies from 23 to 27 feet. Consequently the largest ships from America or +the Indies can reach the wharves of Amsterdam as easily as if it were a +port on the sea-coast. Leaving aside the sea-passages that have been +canalized among the islands of Zeeland, the remaining canals are inland +waterways serving as the principal highways of the country, giving one +part of the country access to the other, and especially serving as +approaches or lanes to the great rivers Meuse and Rhine.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus09.png"><img src="images/illus09.png" alt="A Village in Dyke-Land." title="A Village in Dyke-Land." /><br /> +A Village in Dyke-Land.</a></p> + +<p>The interesting canal population of Holland is, of course, to be found on +these canals, which are traversed in unceasing flow from year's end to +year's end by the tjalks, or national barges. On these boats, which more +resemble a lugger than a barge, they navigate not only the canals of their +own country, but the Rhine up to Coblentz, and even above that place. It +has been computed that Germany imports half its food-supply through +Rotterdam, and much of this is borne to its destined markets on tjalks. +The William Canal connects Bois le Duc with Limburg, and saves the great +bend of the Meuse. The Yssel connects with the Drenthe the Orange and the +Reitdiep canals, which convey to the Rhine the produce of remote Groningen +and Friesland. The Rhine represents the destination of the bulk of the +permanent canal population of Holland, whose floating habitations furnish +one of the most interesting sights to be met with on the waters of the +country, but which represent one of the secret phases of the people's +life, into which few tourists or visitors have the opportunity of peering.</p> + +<p>The canal population of Holland is fixed on a moderate computation at +50,000 persons. For this number of persons the barge represents the only +fixed home, and the year passes in ceaseless movement across the inland +waters of the country or on the great German river, excepting for the +brief interval when the canals are frozen over in the depth of winter. +Even during these periods of enforced idleness the barge does not the less +continue to be their home, for the simple reason that the canal population +possesses no other. Their whole life for generations, the bringing up and +education of the children, the years of toil from youth to old age, are +passed on these barges, which, varying in size and still more in +condition, are as closely identified with the name of home in their +owners' minds as if they were built of brick and stone on firm land. The +ambition of the youth who tugs at the rope is to possess a tjalk of his +own, and he diligently looks out for the maiden whose dowry will assist +him, with his own savings, to make the purchase. This he may hope to +procure for five or six hundred gulden, if he will be content with one of +limited dimensions, and somewhat marked by time. When a family comes he +will want a larger and more commodious boat, but by that time the profits +which his first tjalk will have earned as a carrier will go far towards +buying a second.</p> + +<p>The tjalks are all built in the same form and from a common model. They +carry a mast and sail, although for the greater part of their journeys +they are towed by their owners, or rather by the familles, wife and +children, of the owner. Mynheer, the barge-owner, is usually to be seen +smoking his pipe and taking his ease near the tiller. Formerly it was +otherwise, for the towing was done by dogs, under the personal direction +of, and no doubt with some assistance from, the barge-owner himself, while +his wife and children remained on the poop of the boat. But five and +twenty years ago the authorities of Amsterdam issued a law prohibiting the +employment of dogs in the work of towing, and gradually this law was +generally adopted and enforced throughout the country. When dogs were +emancipated from their servitude on the canal-bank the family had to take +their places, and by degrees the ease-loving head of the family has grown +content to look on and think towing a labour reflecting on his dignity. +There is nothing unusual in the sight of a barge being towed by an old +woman, her daughter or daughter-in-law, and several children. As they +strain at the rope the work seems extremely hard, but the people +themselves appear unconscious of any hardship or inequality in the +distribution of labour.</p> + +<p>The barge is in the first place a conveyance. The whole of the front part +of the boat represents the hold in which the cargo is placed. This is +generally represented by cheese or vegetables, timber, peat, and stones, +the last-named being a return-cargo for the repairing of dykes and the +construction of quays. But in the second place it is a house or place of +residence, and the stern of the boat is given up for that purpose. The +living room is the raised deck or poop, on which is not only the tiller, +but the cooking-stove. The sleeping-room forms the one covered-in +apartment. It is easily divisible into two by a temporary or removable +partition, and it always possesses the two little windows, one on each +side of the tiller, which give it so great a resemblance to a doll's +house. This resemblance is certainly heightened by the custom of colouring +the barges, which are always painted a bright colour, red or green being +perhaps the most usual. As ornament there is usually a good deal of +brasswork; the handle of the tiller is generally bordered with the metal, +and the owner seems to take pride in nailing brass along the bulwarks of +his boat where it is not wanted and is even little seen. It has been +suggested that the polishing of these brass plates or bars provides a +pleasant change from the dull routine work of towing. The brightness of +the paint and the brasswork constitutes the pride of the barge-owners, and +supplies a standard of comparison among them.</p> + +<p>To increase the homelike aspect of this water residence, birds and plants, +always in more or less quantity and variety, are to be seen either in the +windows or on the deck. The poorest bargee, which generally means the +youngest or the beginner, will have one song-bird in a gilt cage, and as +he accumulates money in his really profitable calling, he will add to his +collection of birds a row of flowers and bulbs in pots. Thus he says, with +a glow of satisfaction, 'I possess an aviary and a garden, like my cousin +Hans on the polders, although my home is on the moving waters.' To +strengthen the illusion what does he do but fix a toy gate on the poop +above his sleeping-cabin, and thus cherishes the belief that he is on his +own domain? In the evening, when the towing is over for the day, the women +bring out their sewing, the children play round the tiller, and the good +man smokes his immense pipe with complete and indolent satisfaction. And +so day passes on to day without a variation, and life runs by without a +ripple or a murmur for the canal population, while the mere landsmen look +on with envy at what seems to them an idyllic existence, and even ladies +of breeding and high station have been known to declare that they would +gladly change places with the mistress of the bargee's quarter-deck. That +was no doubt in the days before women had to take on themselves the brunt +and burden of the towing.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus10.png"><img src="images/illus10.png" alt="A Canal in Dordrecht." title="A Canal in Dordrecht." /><br /> +A Canal in Dordrecht.</a></p> + +<p>But even for the canal population of Holland the halcyon days are past. +The spirit of reform is in the air. It may not be long before the tjalk, +with its doll's house and its residential population, will finally +disappear, and leave the canals of Holland as dull and colourless as the +inland waters of any other country. The reform seems likely to come about +in this way. There are at least 30,000 children resident on the +canal-boats. How are they to be properly educated and brought up as useful +citizens if they are to continue to lead a migratory existence which never +leaves them for a fortnight in a single place? Formerly, nobody cared +whether they were educated or not. They were left undisturbed to live +their lives in their own simple and primitive way. As De Amicis wrote: +'The children are born and grow up on the water; the boat carries all +their small belongings, their domestic affections, their past, their +present, and their future. They labour and save, and after many years they +buy a larger boat, selling the old one to a family poorer than themselves, +or handing it over to the eldest son, who in his turn instals his wife, +taken from another boat, and seen for the first time in a chance meeting +on the canal.' But now the State has begun to interest itself in the +children, and its intervention threatens to put a rude and summary ending +to the system of heredity and exclusion which has kept the canal +population a class apart.</p> + +<p>For some time past schools have been in existence, especially devoted to +the education of the barge children, and whenever the barges are moored in +harbour the children are expected to attend them. But these periods of +halting are very brief and uncertain. The stationary barge earns no money, +and it may even be that the parents evade the law as far as possible for +fear of seeing their children acquire a distaste for the life in which +they have been brought up. But the Government, having taken one step in +the matter, cannot afford to go back, and it must also have definite +satisfactory results to show for its legislation. The tentative measure of +temporary schools along the canals has not leavened the illiteracy of the +canal population. It will, therefore, become necessary at no great +interval to devise some fresh and drastic regulations. Compulsory +attendance at school for nine months of the year, which now applies to +children in normal circumstances, may not be the lot of the barge children +for some time, but when it comes, as it inevitably will one day, it will +of necessity mean the break-up of the home life on the canals, for the +children will have to be left behind during the almost unceasing voyages, +and a place of residence will have to be provided on land. Where the +children are the women will soon be, and gradually this place of residence +will become the home, displacing the barge in the associations and +affections of the canal population. Whether these changes will benefit +those most affected by them cannot be guaranteed, but at least they will +put an end to the separate existence of the canal population.</p> + +<p>When this result has been compassed by the inexorable progress of +education and knowledge, the gradual disappearance of the canal +population, the class of hereditary bargees as we have known it, and as it +still exists, may be expected to follow at no remote date, for it was +based on the enforcement of the family principle, and on the devotion of a +whole community, from its youngest to its eldest member, to its +maintenance. As it is the tow-barge is something of an anachronism, but +the withdrawal of the youthful recruits, whose up-bringing alone rendered +it possible, will entail its inevitable extinction. The decay and break-up +of the guild of tjalk owners will be hastened by the introduction of steam +and electricity as means of locomotion. The canals will lose the +bright-coloured barges which are to-day their most striking feature, and +the population that has so long floated over their surface. Life will be +duller and more monotonous. The canal population, so long distinct, will +be merged in the rest of the community. The tug will displace the +tow-rope. The pullers will be housed on land, mastering the three R's +instead of learning to strain at the girth.</p> + +<p>But there is still a brief period left during which the canal population +may be seen in its original primitive existence, devoted to the barge, +which is the only home known to six or seven thousand families, and +traversing the water roads of their country in unceasing and endless +progression. There is nothing like it in any other country of Europe. +Venice has its water routes, but the gondola is not a domicile. There was +a canal population in England, but, like much else in our modern life, it +has lost whatever picturesqueness it might once have claimed. For a true +canal population, bright and happy, living the same life from father to +son and generation to generation, we must go to Holland. There these +inland navigators ply their vocation with only one ambition, and that to +become the owner of a tjalk, and to rear thereon a family of towers. It is +said that the life is one that requires the consumption of unlimited +quantitics of 'schnapps,' and the humidity of the atmosphere is undoubted. +But even free libations do not diminish the prosperity of the bargees. +They are a thriving race, and it must also be noted to their credit that +they are well behaved, and not given to quarrels. Collisions on the +thickly-covered canals are rare; malicious collisions are unknown. The +barges pass and repass without hindrance, the tow-ropes never get +entangled, there is mutual forbearance, and the skill derived from long +experience in slipping the ropes uncler the barges does the rest. The +conditions under which the canal population exists and thrives are a +survival of an older order of things. When they disappear another of the +few picturesque heritages of mediæval life will have been removecl from +the hurly-burly and fierce competition of modern existence.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_07"></a>Chapter VII</h1> + +<h2>A Dutch Village</h2> + + + +<p>Villages in Holland are towns in miniature, for the simple reason that +when you have a marsh to live in you drain a part of it and build on that +part, and so build in streets, and do not form a village as in England, by +houses dotted here and there round a green or down leafy lanes. The +village green in Holland is the village street or square in front of the +church or 'Raadhuis.' Here the children play, for you cannot play in a +swamp, and that is what polder land is seven months out of the year, and +so we find that a Dutch village in most parts of the country is a town in +miniature.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus11.png"><img src="images/illus11.png" alt="An Overyssel Farmhouse." title="An Overyssel Farmhouse." /><br /> +An Overyssel Farmhouse.</a></p> + +<p>Thirty years ago the 'Raadhuis' would have been the village inn, barber's +shop, and the principal hotel all rolled into one, and the innkeeper, as a +natural consequence, the wealthiest man in the neighbourhood. The farmers +would have sat at the 'Raad,' i.e. the Village Council, with their caps +over their eyes, long Gouda pipes in their mouths, and a 'Glaasje Klare' +('Schiedam') under their chairs which they would have steadily sipped at +intervals, puffing at their pipes during the whole sitting. Their wooden +shoes ('Klompen'), scrubbed for the occasion to a brilliant white with the +help of a good layer of whitening, might have been seen in a row standing +on the door-mat, for no well-educated farmer would ever have dreamed of +entering a room with shoes on his feet, and he would have taken his +'pruim,' or quid of tobacco, which every farmer chews even when smoking, +out of his mouth and laid it on the window-sill, the usual receptacle for +such things, and there it would lie in its own little circle of brown +fluid, to be replaced either in his own or his neighbour's mouth after the +meeting was over. Nowadays a farmer goes to the 'Raad' dressed in a suit +of black clothes and with his feet encased in leather boots. He never +wears 'Klompen' save when at work in the field or on the farm. He also +talks of his 'Gemeente,' for all Holland is portioned off into +'Gemeenten,' and a village is such in as good a sense as large towns like +The Hague and Amsterdam, and better if anything, for the taxes there are +not so high. Each 'Gemeente' is separately governed by a Burgomaster and +'Leden van den Raad', which is nothing more nor less than a County +Council, presided over by a prominent man nominated by the sovereign, and +not elected by the members, of which some are called 'Wethouders,' and +are, like the other members, elected by the residents of the district. +These Wethouders, with the Burgomaster, form the 'Dagelyksch Bestuur.' All +ordinary matters concerning the 'Gemeente,' such as giving information to +the Minister of War about the men who have signed for the militia, or +about any person living in their 'Gemeenten,' are regulated by the +'Dagelyksch Bestuur,' though matters of import are brought before the +'Raad.' Next in importance to the Burgomaster come the 'Gemeenteontvanger,' +who receives all the taxes, and the 'Notary, who is the busiest man in the +village, although the doctor and clergyman or priest have a large share in +the work of contributing to the welfare of the villagers.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus12.png"><img src="images/illus12.png" alt="An Overyssel Farmhouse." title="An Overyssel Farmhouse." /><br /> +An Overyssel Farmhouse.</a></p> + +<p>A village clergyman is an important person, for he is held in high honour +by his parishioners, and his larder is always well stocked free of cost. +His income also is relatively larger than that of a town pastor, for +besides his fixed salary he reaps a nice little revenue from the pastures +belonging to the 'Pastorie,' which he lets out to farmers. The +schoolmaster, on the contrary, is treated with but little consideration, +and he often feels decidedly like a fish out of water, for though +belonging by birth to the labouring class, he is too well educated to +associate with his former companions and yet not sufficiently refined to +move in the village 'society,' besides which he would not be able to +return hospitality, as his salary only amounts to from £40 to £60 a year, +and nowhere is the principle of reciprocity more observed than in Dutch +hospitality in certain classes. In very small villages many offices are +combined in one person, and so we find a prominent inhabitant blacksmith, +painter, and carpenter, while the baker's shop is a kind of universal +provider for the villagers' simple wants. The butcher is the only person +who is the man of one occupation, though he, too, goes round to the +neighbouring farms to help in the slaughtering of the cattle, and +sometimes lends a hand in the salting and storing of the meat.</p> + +<p>The farmers live just outside the village, and only come there when they +go to the 'Raad' or on Saturday evenings when the week's work is done. +They then visit the barber before meeting at the <i>café</i> for their weekly +game of billiards. Every resident of the village also betakes himself to +his 'club' or 'Societeit' on Saturday night, and just as the 'Mindere +man,' i.e. farmers and labourers, have their games and discuss their +farms, their cattle, and the price of hay or corn, so, too, the +'Notabelen' discuss every subject under the sun, not forgetting their dear +neighbours.</p> + +<p>On Sunday mornings the whole 'Gemeente' goes to church, from the +Burgomaster to the poorest farm-labourer, and all are dressed in their +best. The men of the village have put aside their working-clothes, and +are attired in blue or black cloth suits with white shirt fronts and +coloured ties. The women have donned black dresses, caps and shawls, and +carry their scent-bottles, peppermints, and 'Gezangboek' (hymn-book) with +large golden clasps. The 'Stovenzetster,' a woman who acts as verger, +shows the good people to their seats and provides the women, if the +weather is cold, with 'warme stoven' (hot stoves), to keep their feet +comfortable. These little 'stoves' contain little three-cornered green or +brown pots ('testen'), in which pieces of glowing peat are put, and +sometimes when the peat is not quite red-hot it smokes terribly, and +gives a most unpleasant odour to the building. The women survive it, +however, by resorting to their <i>eau de Cologne,</i> which they sprinkle upon +their handkerchiefs, and keep passing to their neighbours during the +whole service.</p> + +<p>The village schoolmaster has a special office to perform in the Sunday +service. It is he who reads a 'chapter' to them before the entrance of the +clergyman, who only comes when service has begun. Then the sermon, which +is the chief part of the service in Dutch churches, begins. This sermon is +very long, and the congregation sleep through the first part very +peacefully, but the rest is not for long, for when the domine has spoken +for about three-quarters of an hour he calls upon his congregation to sing +a verse of some particular psalm. The schoolmaster starts the singing, +which goes very slowly, each note lasting at least four beats, so that the +tune is completely lost. However, as a rule, every one sings a different +tune, and nobody knows which is the right one. Two collections are taken +during the service, one for the poor and one for the church, the +schoolmaster and the elders ('Ouderlingen') of the church going round with +little bags tied to very long sticks, which they pass ail along a row in +which to receive the 'gifts.' Generally one cent is given by each of the +congregation.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus13.png"><img src="images/illus13.png" alt="Approach to an Overyssel Farm." title="Approach to an Overyssel Farm." /><br /> +Approach to an Overyssel Farm.</a></p> + +<p>After church is over the Sunday lunch takes the next place in the day's +routine. The table is always more carefully set out on Sundays than on +other days, and to the usual fare of bread, butter, and cheese are added +smoked beef and cake, while the coffee-pot stands on the 'Komfoortje' (a +square porcelain stand with a little light inside to keep the pot hot), +and the sugar-pot contains white sugar as a Sunday treat, for sugar is +very dear in Holland, and cannot form an article of daily consumption. +Servants always make an agreement about sugar; hence on week-days a supply +of 'brokken' (sweets something like toffee, and costing about a penny for +three English ounces) is kept in the sugar-pot, and when the people drink +coffee they put a 'brok' in their mouths and suck it. Should their cup be +emptied before the 'brok' is finished, they replace it on their saucers +till a second cup is poured out for them, and if they do not take a second +cup, then their 'brok' is put back into the sugar-pot again.</p> + +<p>After lunch the men now find their way to the 'Societeit,' or in summer to +the village street, where they walk about in their shirt-sleeves and +smoke. The children go to their Sunday schools, or, if they are Roman +Catholics, to their 'Leering,' which is a Bible-class held for them in +church, and in villages where there is no Sunday school they, too, +leisurely perambulate the village dressed in their best clothes, even if +it is a wet day. The women first clear away the lunch utensils, and then +have a little undisturbed chat with their neighbours on the doorstep, or +go to see their friends in town. At four o'clock the whole family +assembles again in the parlour for their 'Borreltje,' either consisting of +'Boerenjongens' (brandied raisins) or 'Brandewyn met suiker' (brandy with +sugar), which they drink out of their best glasses. There is no church in +the evening, so the villagers retire early to bed, so as to be in good +trim for the week's hard work again.</p> + +<p>From this sketch it will be judged that life in a village is very dull. +There is nothing to break the monotony of the days, and one season passes +by in precisely the same way as another. Days and seasons, in fact, make +no difference whatever in the villager's existence. There is no pack of +hounds to fire the sporting instinct; no excitement of elections; no +distraction of any kind. All is quiet, regular, and uneventful, and when +their days are over they sleep with their fathers naturally enough, for +only too often have they been half asleep all their lives.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_08"></a>Chapter VIII</h1> + +<h2>The Peasant at Home</h2> + + + +<p>To describe an 'average' Dutch peasant would be to say very little of him. +There is far too much difference in this class of people all over the +Netherlands to allow of any generalization. In Zeeland we meet two +distinct types; one very much akin to the Spanish race, having a +Spaniard's dark hair, dark eyes, and sallow complexion, and often very +good-looking. The other type is entirely different, fair-haired, +light-eyed, and of no particular beauty. In Limburg, the most southern +province of the Netherlands, one finds a mixture of the German, Flemish, +and Dutch types, and the language there is a dialect formed from all those +three tongues, while in the most northern province, Groningen, the people +speak a dialect resembling that spoken in Overyssel and Gelderland, and +the Frisians, their neighbours, would feel themselves quite strangers in +the last named provinces, and would not even be able to make themselves +understood when speaking in their usual language. In the Betuwe the +dialect spoken differs from that in the Veluwe, but no distinct line can +be drawn to determine where one dialect begins and the other ends.</p> + +<p>In their mode of dressing, too, there is a great difference between the +people of one province and of another, and in Zeeland every island has +its own special costume. Just as they differ in dress, so they also differ +in appearance and education, wealth, and civilization.</p> + +<p>A North Holland farmer is well-to-do and independent. For centuries he has +battled and disputed every inch of his land with the sea, and it has been +pointed out by observant people that the effects of the strife are still +marked in his harsh and rugged features and independent ways. It is well +known that his cattle are the best in all the country, for the pastures, +by reason of the damp polder ground, are very rich, and yield year out +year in an abundant crop of grass and hay, the cows he keeps for milking +purposes giving from 20 to 30 litres, or from 45 to 70 pints, of milk a +day, which is a very high yield.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus14.png"><img src="images/illus14.png" alt="Zeeland Costume." title="Zeeland Costume." /><br /> +Zeeland Costume.</a></p> + +<p>The 'Vrye Fries'--for the Frisian congratulates himself on never having +been conquered, but always having in days of war and tribal feud made his +own terms more or less with an adversary--stands higher in culture and +intellect, and is also more enterprising, than the great majority of the +Dutch peasants. He welcomes many inventions, and is willing to risk +something in trying them, and so one can see many kinds of machinery in +use on the Frisian farms. He also works with the most modern and approved +artificial manures.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus15.png"><img src="images/illus15.png" alt="Zeeland Costumes." title="Zeeland Costumes." /><br /> +Zeeland Costumes.</a></p> + +<p>The Groningen and Overyssel boer[Footnote: Peasant and farmer as a rule +are convertible terms. A farmer is a peasant, although a peasant is not +always the owner of a farm. In point of education the farmer himself does +not differ from the average labourer on his farm, and both alike are +classed as 'boeren.'] follows his example unless the farms are so small as +to make large machinery impracticable, when he goes along the path marked +out by his great-grandfather, and finds safety, if not novelty, in so +doing. All over the north of Holland the cows are good, and there is milk, +butter, and cheese in abundance at the markets, especially the two +last-named articles, as nearly all the milk is sent to the +'Zuivelfabrieken,' as butter and cheese factories are called.</p> + +<p>Travelling from north to south, and so reaching the Wilhelminapolder in +Zeeland, we come across the steam-plough, but that is the only place in +the Netherlands where it is in use. The further south one goes--Zeeland +excepted--the lower becomes the standard of life, and the peasants seem to +care for little else than their fields and cattle, while the people of +Noord Brabant are the poorest and dirtiest of them all. The produce of the +soil varies according to the ground cultivated. In Utrecht and Brabant +many thousand acres are devoted to tobacco, while Overyssel and +Gelderland, as a rule, grow rye, oats, buckwheat, and flax. In Drenthe the +greater part of the province yields peat, and North and South Holland are +famous all over the world for their rich pastures. Cabbages and +cauliflowers are also extensively cultivated for exportation, and in +Friesland they have begun to cultivate them also. From Wateringen to the +Hoek van Holland one sees smiling orchards, while from Leyden to Haarlem +blossom the world-famed bulb fields, too well known to need special +description.</p> + +<p>The farm-work is done in the spring and summer. The women invariably help +with the lighter work of weeding in the fields, while in harvest-time +they work as hard as the men, and very picturesque they look in their +broad black hats and white linen skirts. But when the harvest is gathered +in, and the pigs have been converted into hams and sausages, the man's +chief labour is over, although the manuring of the land and the threshing +of the corn have to be attended to. Still, he has his evenings wherein to +sit by the fireside and smoke, presumably gathering energies the while +for the coming spring. A woman's work, however, is never ended, for +while the man smokes she spins the flax grown on her own ground and the +wool from the sheep of the farm. In some parts of Overyssel it is still +the custom for the women to meet together at some neighbouring friend's +house to spin, and during these sociable evenings they partake of the +'spinning-meal,' which consists of currant bread and coffee, and in turn +sing and tell stories.</p> + +<p>A weaver always visits every house once a year with his own loom to assist +at these gatherings, and when the linen is woven it is rolled up and tied +with coloured ribbons, decorated with artificial flowers, and kept in the +linen-press--the pride of every Dutch housewife--and when a daughter of +the house marries several rolls of this linen are added to her trousseau. +The wealth of a farm is, in fact, calculated by the number of rolls. These +are handed down for generations, and often contain linen more than a +hundred years old. The wool, when woven, is made up into thick petticoats, +of which every well-dressed peasant woman wears six or seven.</p> + +<p>The education of the farmer is not very liberal. A child generally goes to +school until he is twelve years of age, and during that time he has learnt +reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a rule, however, he does not attend +regularly, as his help is so often wanted at home, especially at +harvest-time, and although the new education law--the 'Leerplichtwet' of +July 7th, 1901--has made school attendance compulsory, yet a child is +allowed to remain at home when wanted if he has attended school regularly +during the six previous months. The interest of the parent and the +inclination of the child are thus combined to the retarding of the +intellectual progress of the boer. And yet, although they are so badly +taught, the peasantry have a very good opinion about things in general, +and if you assist them in their work and show them that you can use your +hands as well as they can they have great respect for you, and will listen +to anything you like to tell them about or read to them. The women +especially have very pronounced views of their own, a trait not confined +to Netherland womenfolk. To go about among them is at present the best way +of educating them, and when you have once won their regard they will go +through fire and water for you; but they despise any one who 'does +nothing,' for, like most manual workers, they do not understand that +brain-work is as hard as manual labour.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus16.png"><img src="images/illus16.png" alt="An Itinerant Linen-Weaver." title="An Itinerant Linen-Weaver." /><br /> +An Itinerant Linen-Weaver.</a></p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus17.png"><img src="images/illus17.png" alt="Farmhouse Interior, showing the Linen-Press." title="Farmhouse Interior, showing the Linen-Press." /><br /> +Farmhouse Interior, showing the Linen-Press.</a></p> + +<p>The farmhouses in most parts of the country are neat and more or less of a +pattern, although they differ in minor details. Outside their appearance +is very quaint and picturesque, and the roofs are either thatched or +tiled. In Groningen they now hardly resemble farms. They are, indeed, +little country seats, and the interior is decidedly modern. Some of the +very poorest-looking houses are to be found in Overyssel and Drenthe. +These are built of clay, and stand halfway in the ground. The roofs are +covered with sods taken from the 'Drentsche Veengronden.' Some of these +'Plaggewoningen,' as they are called, are not more than twelve feet square +and eight feet high. The ceiling of the room inside the dwelling is only +four or five feet high, and above this the stores of hay and corn are +kept. A hole in the roof serves as chimney, and in the floor--which is +nothing but hard clay--a hole is dug to serve as fireplace. On the larger +farms in Overyssel the main building is generally divided into two parts. +The back part is for the cattle, which stand in rows on either side, with +a large open space in the centre, called the 'deel,' where the carts are +kept. A large arched double door leads into it, while the thatched roof +comes down low on either side. Leading from the 'deel,' or stable, into +the living-room is a small door, with a window to enable the inhabitants +to see what is going on among their friends of the fields. Against the +wall which forms the partition between the stable and living-room is the +fireplace. You will sometimes find an open fire on the floor, though in +the more modern houses stoves are used. The chimney-piece is in the shape +of a large overhanging hood with a flounce of light print 'Schoorsteenval' +round it, and a row of plates on a shelf above serves for ornament. The +much-prized linen-press, which has already been mentioned, is usually +placed at right-angles to the outer door, so as to form a kind of passage.</p> + +<p>In some farmhouses there is no partition at all between the stable and +living-room, but the cattle are kept at the back, and the people live at +the other end, near the window. This is called a 'loshuis,' or open house, +and very picturesque it is to look at. The smell of the cows is considered +to be extremely healthy, and consumptive patients have been completely +cured (so it is popularly believed) by sleeping in the cowsheds. Besides +being healthy, this primitive system is also cheap, for the cows give out +so much warmth that it is almost unnecessary to have fires except for +cooking purposes. Some of these open houses have no chimneys, the smoke +finding its way out between the tiles of the roof or through the door. +There is a hayloft above the part occupied by the cattle, while over the +heads of the family hams, bacon, and sausages of every description hang +from the rafters. Smoke is very useful in curing these stores, and this +may account for the absence of a chimney.</p> + +<p>In Brabant, however, where there are chimneys, the farmer hangs his stores +in them, so that when looking up through the wide opening to the sky +beyond numerous tiers of dangling sausages meet one's admiring gaze. The +living-room is a living-room in every sense of the word, for the family +work, eat, and sleep there. Sometimes a larger farm has a wing attached to +it containing bedrooms, but this is not general, and even so most of the +family sleep in the living-room. The beds are placed round the room. They +are, in fact, cupboards, and by day are fixed in the wall. Green curtains +are hung before the beds, and are always drawn at night, completely +concealing the beds from view. Some have doors like ordinary cupboards, +but this is more general in North Holland. In Hindeloopen (Friesland) one +or two beds in the living-room are kept as 'pronk-bedden' (show beds). +They are decked out with the finest linen the farmers' wives possess, the +sheets gorgeous with long laces, and the pillow-slips beautifully +embroidered. These beds are never slept in, and the curtains are kept open +all day long, so that any one who enters the room can at once admire their +beauty. Some of the more wealthy have a 'best bedroom,' which they keep +carefully locked. They dust it every day, and clean it out once a week, +but never use it. In South Holland it is more customary to have a +'pronk-kamer' ('show-room'), which is not a bedroom, but a kind of +parlour. This room is never entered by the inhabitants of the house except +at a birth or a death, and in the latter case they put the corpse there. +In Hindeloopen the dead are put in the church to await burial, and there +they rest on biers specially made for the occasion. A different bier is +used to represent the trade or profession or sex of the dead person. These +biers are always most elaborately painted (as, indeed, are all things in +Hindeloopen), with scenes out of the life of a doctor, a clergyman, a +tradesman, or a peasant.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus18.png"><img src="images/illus18.png" alt="Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse." title="Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse." /><br /> +Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse.</a></p> + +<p>The costume worn by the peasantry is always quaint, and this is +especially so in Hindeloopen. The waistband of a peasant woman takes +alone an hour and a half to arrange. It consists of a very long, thin, +black band, which is wound round and round the waist till it forms one +broad sash. The dress itself includes a black skirt and a check bodice, a +white apron, and a dark necktie; from the waistband hangs at the +right-hand side a long silver chain, to which are attached a silver +pincushion, a pair of scissors, and a needle-case; then on the left-hand +side hangs a reticule with silver clasps; and a long mantle, falling +loose from the shoulders to the hem of the skirt, is worn over all +out-of-doors. This latter is of some light-coloured material, with a +pattern of red flowers and green leaves. On the head three caps are worn, +one over the other, and for outdoor wear a large, tall bonnet is donned +by way of completing the costume.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus19.png"><img src="images/illus19.png" alt="A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable." title="A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable." /><br /> +A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable.</a></p> + +<p>All the Frisian costumes are beautiful. Many ladies of that province still +wear the national dress, and a very becoming one it is.</p> + +<p>In Overyssel the women all over the province dress alike and in the same +way their ancestors did. In the house the dress is an ordinary full +petticoat of some cotton stuff, generally blue, and a tight-fitting and +perfectly plain bodice with short sleeves, a red handkerchief folded +across the chest, and a close-fitting white cap, with a little flounce +round the neck. When they go to market with their milk and eggs they are +very smart.[Footnote: Butter used to be one of the wares they took to +market, but now so many butter-factories have arisen, and also so much is +imported from Australia, that it is hardly worth their while to make it.]</p> + +<p>They then wear a fine black merino skirt, made very full, and the +inevitable petticoats, which make the skirt stand out like a crinoline. On +Sundays they wear the same costume as on market-days, and in winter they +are to be seen with large Indian shawls worn in a point down the back in +the old-fashioned way. When they go to communion, as they do four times a +year, the shawls are of black silk with long black fringes. The hair is +completely hidden by a close-fitting black cap, and some women cut off +their hair so as to give the head a perfectly round shape. Over the black +cap is worn a white one of real lace, called a 'knipmuts,' the pattern of +which shows to advantage over the black ground. A deep flounce of gauffred +real lace goes round the neck, while round the face there is a ruche or +frill, also very finely gauffred. A broad white brocaded ribbon is laid +twice round the cap, and fastened under the chin. Long gold earrings are +fastened to the cap on either side of the face, and the ears themselves +are hidden. The style of gauffering is still the same as is seen in the +muslin caps of so many Dutch pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, especially in those of Frans Hals. When in mourning, the women +wear a plain linen cap without any lace, and the men a black bow in their +caps. It is quite a work of art to make up a peasant woman's head-dress, +and several cap-makers are kept busy at it all day long.</p> + +<p>The clothes the men wear are not so elaborate. They used to be short +knickerbockers with silver clasps, but these have entirely gone out of +fashion, and they have been replaced by ordinary clothes of cloth or +corduroy. Both sexes wear wooden shoes, which the men often make +themselves. In the far-famed little island of Marken, the men are very +clever at this work, and they carve them beautifully. In some lonely +hamlets the unmarried women wear black caps with a thick ruche of ostrich +feathers or black fur round the face. The jewellery consists of garnet +necklaces closed round the neck and fastened by golden clasps. The garnets +are always very large, and this fashion is general ail over the +Netherlands. In Stompwyk, a little village between The Hague and Leyden, a +peasant family possesses garnets as large as a swallow's egg.</p> + +<p>If the dress of the boers is solid, quaint, and national, the daily food +of the class is in keeping with their conservative temper and traditional +gastronomic ability. It is of the plainest character, but often consists +of the strangest mixtures. When a pig is killed, and the different parts +for hams, sides of bacon, etc., have been stored, and the sausages +made--especially after they have boiled the black-puddings, or +'Bloedworst,' which is made of the blood of the pigs--a thick fatty +substance remains in the pot. This they thicken with buckwheat meal till +it forms a porridge, and then they eat it with treacle. The name of this +dish is 'Balkenbry.' A portion of this, together with some of the +'slacht,' i.e. the flesh of the pig, is sent as a present to the +clergyman of the village, and it is to be hoped he enjoys it.</p> + +<p>Another favourite dish, especially in Overyssel and Gelderland, is +'Kruidmoes.' This is a mixture of buttermilk boiled with buckwheat meal, +vegetables, celery, and sweet herbs, such as thyme, parsley, and chervil, +and, to crown all, a huge piece of smoked bacon, and it is served steaming +hot. The poor there eat a great deal of rice and flour boiled with +buttermilk, which, besides being very nutritious, is 'matchless for the +complexion,' like many of the advertised soaps. The very poor have what is +called a 'Vetpot.' This they keep in the cellar, and in it they put every +particle of fat that remains over from their meals. Small scraps of bacon +are melted down and added to it, for this fat must last them the whole +winter through as an addition to their potatoes. Indeed, the 'Vetpot' +plays as great a part in a poor man's house as the 'stock-pot' does in an +English kitchen.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus20.png"><img src="images/illus20.png" alt="Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor." title="Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor." /><br /> +Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor.</a></p> + +<p>The meals are cooked in a large iron pot, which hangs from a hook over the +open hearth. The fuel consists of huge logs of wood and heather sods, +which are also used for covering the roofs of the 'Plaggewoning.' Black or +rye bread takes the place of white, and is generally home-made. In Brabant +the women bake what is called 'Boeren mik.' This is a delicious long brown +loaf, and there are always a few raisins mixed with the dough to keep it +from getting stale. Those who have no ovens of their own put the dough in +a large long baking-tin and send it to the baker. One of the children, on +his way back from school, fetches it and carries it home <i>under his arm</i>. +You may often see farmers' children walking about in their wooden shoes +with two or more loaves under their arms. Both wooden shoes and loaves are +used in a dispute between comrades, and the loaf-carrier generally gains +the day. The crusts are very hard and difficult to cut, but, inside, the +bread is soft and palatable.</p> + +<p>In Brabant the peasants--small of stature, black-haired, brown-eyed, more +of the Flemish than the Dutch type--are as a rule Roman Catholics, and on +Shrove Tuesday evening 'Vastenavond,' 'Fast evening' (the night before +Lent), they bake and eat 'Worstebrood.' On the outside this bread looks +like an ordinary white loaf, but on cutting it open you find it to contain +a spicy sausage-meat mixture. All the people in this part of the country +observe the Carnival, with its accustomed licence.</p> + +<p>Times for farming are bad in the Netherlands as elsewhere. The rents are +high and wages low, and the consequence is that many peasants sell their +farms, which have for a long time been in their families, and rent them +again from the purchasers. The relations between landlord and tenants are +in some respects still feudalistic, and hence very old-fashioned. On some +estates the landlord has still the right of exacting personal service from +his tenants, and can call upon them to come and plough his field with +their horses, or help with the harvesting, for which service they are paid +one 'gulden,' or 1s. 8d. a day, which, of course, is not the full value of +their labour. The tenants likewise ask their landlord's consent to their +marriages, and it is refused if the man or woman is not considered +suitable or respectable.</p> + +<p>A farmer who keeps two or three cows pays a rent of £8 a year for his +farm, which only yields enough to keep him and his family, not in a high +standard of living either. The rent is generally calculated at the rate of +three per cent. of the value. He pays his farm-labourers 80 cents, or 1s. +4d., for a day's work. In former days, however, money was never given, and +the wages of a farm-servant then were a suit of clothes, a pair of boots, +and some linen, while the women received an apron, some linen, and a few +petticoats once a year. Now they get in addition to this £12 a year. In +Gramsbergen (Overyssel) a whole family, consisting of a mother, her +daughter, and her two grown-up sons, earned no more than four or five +guilders (8s. or 10s.) between them, but then they lived rent free. It is +not wonderful, therefore, that farm-labourers are scarce, and that many a +young man, unable to earn enough to keep body and soul together decently, +seeks work in the factories here or in Belgium,[Footnote: According to a +recent return, 56,506 Netherlands workmen are employed in Belgium.] while +those who do not wish to give up agricultural pursuits migrate to Germany, +where the demand for 'hands' is greater and the wages consequently higher. +In former days strangers came to this country to earn money. Now the +tables are turned, and the fact that Holland is situated between two +countries whose thriving industries demand a greater number of workers +every year will yet bring serious trouble and loss to Dutch agriculture. +[Footnote: Just now great results are expected from the 'allotment +system,' of which a trial has been made in Friesland on the extensive +possessions of Mr. Jansen, of Amsterdam.]</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_09"></a>Chapter IX</h1> + +<h2>Rural Customs</h2> + + + +<p>The Hollander is a very conservative individual, and therefore some +curious customs still prevail among the peasant and working classes in the +Netherlands, especially in the Eastern provinces, for there the people are +most primitive, and there it is that we find many queer old rhymes, +apparently without any sense in them, but which must have had their origin +in forgotten national or domestic events. A remnant of an old pagan custom +of welcoming the summer is still to be seen in many country places. On the +Saturday before Whitsunday, very early in the morning, a party of children +may be seen setting out towards the woods to gather green boughs. After +dipping these in water they return home in triumph and place them before +the doors of those who were not 'up with the lark' in such a manner that, +when these long sleepers open them, the wet green boughs will come +tumbling down upon their heads. Very often, too, the children pursue the +late risers, and beat them with the branches, jeering at them the while, +and singing about the laziness of the sluggard. These old songs have +undergone very many variations, and nowadays one cannot say which is the +correct and original form. They have, in fact, been hopelessly mixed up +with other songs, and in no two provinces do we find exactly the same +versions. The 'Luilak feest,'[Footnote: This day is called Luilak +(sluggard) in some parts of the country and the feast is called +Luilakfeest.'] of which I have just spoken, goes by the name of +'Dauwtrappen' ('treading the dew') in some parts of the country, but the +observance of it is the same wherever the custom obtains.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus21.png"><img src="images/illus21.png" alt="Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs." title="Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs." /><br /> +Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs.</a></p> + +<p>'Eiertikken' at Easter must also not be overlooked. For a whole week +before Easter the peasant children go round from house to house begging +for eggs, and carrying a wreath of green leaves stuck on a long stick. +This stick and wreath they call their 'Palm Paschen,' which really +means Palm-Sunday, and may have been so called because they make the +wreath on that day.</p> + +<p>Down the village streets they go, singing all the while and waving the +wreath above their heads:--</p> + +<blockquote> Palm, Palm Paschen,<br /> + Hei koekerei. <br /> + Weldra is het Paschen<br /> + Dan hebben wy een ei. <br /> + Een ei--twee ei, <br /> + Het derde is het Paschei.</blockquote> + +<blockquote> Palm, Palm Sunday, <br /> + Hei koekerei. <br /> + Soon it will be Easter<br /> + And we shall have an egg. <br /> + One egg--two eggs, <br /> + The third egg is the Easter egg.</blockquote> + +<p>They knock at every farmhouse, and are very seldom sent away empty-handed. +When they have collected enough eggs to suit their purpose--generally +three or four apiece--they boil them hard and stain them with two +different colours, either brown with coffee or red with beetroot juice, +and then on Easter Day they all repair to the meadows carrying their eggs +with them, and the 'eiertikken' begins. The children sit down on the +grass, and each child knocks one of his eggs against that of another in +such a way that only one of the shells breaks. The child whose egg does +not break wins, and becomes the possessor of the broken egg.</p> + +<p>The strangest of all these begging-customs, however, is the one in vogue +between Christmas and Twelfth Night. Then the children go out in couples, +each boy carrying an earthenware pot, over which a bladder is stretched, +with a piece of stick tied in the middle. When this stick is twirled +about, a not very melodious grumbling sound proceeds from the contrivance, +which is known by the name of 'Rommelpot.' By going about in this manner +the children are able to collect some few pence to buy bread--or gin--for +their fathers. When they stop before any one's house, they drawl out, +'Give me a cent, and I will pass on, for I have no money to buy bread.' +The origin both of the custom and song is shrouded in mystery.[Footnote: A +Society of Research into old folklore and folk-song has recently been +founded by some of the leading Dutch literary authorities, who also +propose to publish a little periodical in which all these customs will be +collected and noted.]</p> + +<p>Besides the customs in vogue at such festive seasons as Whitsuntide, +Easter, and Christmas, there are yet others of more everyday occurrence +which are well worth the knowing. In Overyssel, for instance, we find a +very sensible one indeed. It is usual there when a family remove to +another part of the village, or when they settle elsewhere, for the people +living in the neighbourhood to bring them presents to help furnish their +new house. Sometimes these presents include poultry or even a pig, which, +though they do not so much furnish the house as the table, prove +nevertheless very acceptable. As soon as all the moving is over and they +are comfortably installed in their new home, the next thing to do is to +invite all the neighbours to a party.</p> + +<p>This is a very important social duty and ought on no account to be +omitted, as it entitles host and hostess to the help of all their guests +in the event of illness or adversity taking place in their family. If, +however, they do not conform to this social obligation, their neighbours +and friends stand aloof, and do not so much as move a finger to help them. +Should one of the family fall ill, the four nearest male neighbours are +called in. These men fetch the doctor, and do all the nursing. They will +even watch by the invalid at night, and so long as the illness lasts they +undertake all the farm-work. Sometimes they will go on working the farm +for years, and when a widow is left with young children in straitened +circumstances, these 'Noodburen' ('neighbours in need') will help her in +all possible ways, and take all the business and worry off her hands.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus22.png"><img src="images/illus22.png" alt="Rommel Pot." title="Rommel Pot." /><br /> +Rommel Pot.</a></p> + +<p>In case of a marriage, too, the neighbours do the greater part of the +preparations. They invite the relations and friends to come to the +wedding, and make ready the feast. The invitations are always given by +word of mouth, and two young men[Footnote: In Gelderland we find this same +custom and also in Friesland, but in this last-named province the +invitation is given by two young girls.] nearly related to the bride and +bridegroom are appointed to go round from house to house to bid the people +come. They are dressed for this purpose in their best Sunday clothes, and +wear artificial flowers and six peacock's feathers in their caps. The +invitation is made in poetry, in which the assurance is conveyed that +there will be plenty to eat and plenty of gin and beer to drink, and that +whatever they may have omitted to say will be told by the bride and +bridegroom at the feast. This verse in the native patois is very curious--</p> + +<p align="center"> 'GOEN DAG!</p> + +<blockquote> 'Daor stao'k op minen staf<br /> +En weet niet wat ik zeggen mag,<br /> +Nou hek me weer bedach<br /> +En weet ik wat ik zeggen mag<br /> +Hier sturt ons Gut yan Vente als brugom<br /> +En Mientje Elschot as de brud,<br /> +Ende' noget uwder ut<br /> +Margen vrog on tien ur<br /> +Op en tonne bier tiene twalevenne,<br /> +Op en anker win, vif, zesse<br /> +En en wanne vol rozimen.<br /> +De zult by Venterboer verschinen<br /> +Met de husgezeten<br /> +En nums vergeten,<br /> +Vrog kommen en late bliven<br /> +Anders kun wy t nie 't op krigen<br /> +Lustig ezongen, vrolik esprongen,<br /> +Springen met de beide beene,<br /> +En wat ik nog hebbe vergeten<br /> +Zult ow de Brogom ende Brud verbeten.<br /> +Hej my elk nuw wal verstaan<br /> +Dan laot de fles um de taofel gaon</blockquote> + +<p align="center"> + 'GOOD DAY!</p> + +<blockquote> 'I rest here on my stick,<br /> +I don't know what to say,<br /> +Now I have thought of it<br /> +And know what I may say:<br /> +Here sent us Gart van Vente, the bridegroom,<br /> +And Mientje Elschot, the bride,<br /> +To invite you<br /> +To-morrow morning at ten o'clock<br /> +To empty ten or twelve barrels of beer,<br /> +Five or six hogsheads of wine,<br /> +And a basket full of dried grapes.<br /> +You will come to the house of Venterboer<br /> +With all your inmates<br /> +And forget nobody.<br /> +Come early and remain late,<br /> +Else we can't swallow it all down.<br /> +Then sing cheerfully, leap joyfully,<br /> +Leap with both your legs.<br /> +And, what I have yet forgotten,<br /> +Think of the bridegroom and bride.<br /> +If you have understood me well<br /> +Let pass the bottle round the table.'</blockquote> + +<p>The day before the wedding is to take place the bridegroom and some of +his friends arrive at the bride's house in a cart, drawn by four horses, +to bring away the bride and her belongings. These latter are a motley +collection, for they consist not only of her clothes, bed and +bed-curtains, but her spinning-wheel, linen-press full of linen, and +also a cow. After everything has been loaded upon the cart, and the +young men have refreshed themselves with 'rystebry' (rice boiled with +sweet milk), they drive away in state, singing as they go. The following +day the bride is married from the house of her parents-in-law, and as it +often happens that the young couple live with the bridegroom's people, +it is only natural that they like to have the house in proper order +before the arrival of the wedding-guests, who begin to appear as soon as +eight o'clock in the morning. When all the invited guests are assembled +and have partaken of hot gin mixed with currants, handed round in +two-handled pewter cups, kept especially for these occasions, the whole +party goes, about eleven o'clock, to the 'Stadhuis,' or Town Hall, where +the couple are married before the Burgomaster, and afterwards to the +church, where the blessing is given upon their union. On returning home +the mid-day meal is ready, and, on this festive occasion, consists of +ham, potatoes, and salt fish, and the clergyman is also honoured with +an invitation to the gathering. The rest of the day is spent in +rejoicings, in which eating and drinking take the chief part. The bride +changes her outer apparel about four times during the day, always in +public, standing before her linen-press. The day is wound up with a +dance, for which the village fiddler provides the music, the bride +opening the ball with one of the young men who invited the guests, and +she then presents him with a fine linen handkerchief as a reward for his +invaluable services on the occasion.</p> + +<p>In Friesland a curious old custom still exists, called the 'Joen-piezl,' +which furnishes the clue to an odd incident in Mrs. Schreiner's 'Story of +an African Farm.' When a man and girl are about to be married, they must +first sit up for a whole night in the kitchen with a burning candle on the +table between them. By the time the candle is burnt low in its socket they +must have found out whether they really are fond of each other.</p> + +<p>The marriage customs in North and South Holland are very different to the +former. As soon as a couple are 'aangeteekend,' i.e. when the banns are +published for the first time (which does not happen in church, but takes +the form of a notice put up at the Town Hall), and have returned from the +'Stadhuis,' they drive about and take a bag of sweets ('bruidsuikers') to +all their friends. On the wedding-day, after the ceremony is over, the +bride and bridegroom again drive out together in a 'chaise'--a high +carriage on very big wheels, with room for but two persons. The horse's +head, the whip, and the reins are all decorated with flowers and coloured +ribbons. The wedding-guests drive in couples behind the bride and +bridegroom's 'chaise,' and the progress is called 'Speuleryden.' Sometimes +they drive for miles across country, stopping at every <i>café</i> to drink +brandy and sugar, and when they pass children on the road these call out +to them, 'Bruid, bruid, strooi je suikers uit' ('Bride, bride, strew your +sugars about.') Handfuls of sweets will thereupon be seen flying through +the air and rolling about the ground, while the children tumble over each +other in their eager haste to collect as many of these sweets as they can. +Sometimes as much as twenty-five pounds of sweets are thus scattered upon +the roadside for the village children. Such a wedding is quite an event in +the lives of these little ones, and they will talk for weeks to come about +the amount of sweets they were able to procure.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus23.png"><img src="images/illus23.png" alt="A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume." title="A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume." /><br /> +A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume.</a></p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus24.png"><img src="images/illus24.png" alt="Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur." title="Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur." /><br /> +Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur.</a></p> + +<p>At Ryswyk, a little village near The Hague, and in most villages in +Westland, South Holland, the bride and bridegroom present to the +Burgomaster and Wethouders, and also to the 'Ambtenaar van den +Burgerlyken Stand' who marries them at the 'Stadhuis,' a bag of these +sweets, while one bearing the inscription, 'Compliments of bride and +bridegroom,' is given to the officiating clergyman immediately after the +ceremony in church. On their way home all along the road they strew +'suikers' out of the carriage windows for the gaping crowds. Some of the +less well-to-do farmers, and those who live near large towns, give their +wedding-parties at a <i>café</i> or 'uitspanning.' This word means literally a +place where the horse is taken out of the shafts, but it is also a +restaurant with a garden attached to it, in which there are swings and +seesaws, upon which the guests disport themselves during the afternoon, +while in the evening a large hall in the building is arranged for the +ball, for that is the conclusion of every 'Boeren bruiloft.' Very often +the ball lasts till the cock-crowing, and then, if the 'Bruiloft houers' +are Roman Catholics, it is no uncommon practice first to go to church and +'count their beads' before they disperse on their separate ways to begin +the duties of a new day.</p> + +<p>A birth is naturally an occasion that calls for very festive celebration. +When the child is about a week old, its parents send round to all their +friends to come and rejoice with them. The men are invited 'op een lange +pyp en een bitterje,' the women for the afternoon 'op suikerdebol.' At +twelve o'clock the men begin to arrive, and are immediately provided with +a long Gouda pipe, a pouch of tobacco, and a cut glass bottle containing +gin mixed with aromatic bitters. While they smoke, they talk in voices +loud enough to make any one who is not acquainted with a farmer's mode of +speech think that a great deal of quarrelling is going on in the house. +This entertainment lasts till seven o'clock, when all the men leave and +the room is cleared, though not ventilated, and the table is rearranged +for the evening's rejoicings.</p> + +<p>Dishes of bread and butter, flat buttered rusks liberally spread with +'muisjes' (sugared aniseed--the literal translation is 'mice'), together +with tarts and sweets of all descriptions, are put out in endless +profusion on all the best china the good wife possesses. For each of the +guests two of these round flat rusks are provided, two being the correct +number to take, for more than two would be considered greedy, and to eat +only one would be sure to offend the hostess. Eating and drinking, for +'Advocatenborrel' (brandy and eggs) is also served, go on for the greater +part of the afternoon. The mid-day meal is altogether dispensed with on +such a day, and, judging by appearances, one cannot say that the guests +look as if they had missed it!</p> + +<p>It is quite the national custom to eat rusks with 'muisjes' on on these +occasions, and these little sweets are manufactured of two kinds. The +sugar coating is smooth when the child is a girl, and rough and prickly +like a chestnut burr when the child is a boy; and when one goes to buy +'muisjes' at a confectioner's he is always asked whether boys' or girls' +'muisjes' are required. Hundreds-and-thousands, the well-known decoration +on buns and cakes in an English pastry-cook's shop, bear the closest +resemblance to these Dutch 'muisjes.'</p> + +<p>When a little child is born into a family of the better classes, the +servants are treated to biscuits and 'mice' on that day; while in the very +old-fashioned Dutch families there is still another custom, that of +offermg 'Kandeel,' a preparation of eggs and Rhine wine or hock, on the +first day the young mother receives visitors, and it is specially made for +these occasions by the 'Baker' nurse.</p> + +<p>Funeral processions are a very mournful sight on all occasions, but a +Dutch funeral depresses one for about a month after. The hearse is all +hung with black draperies, while on the box sits the coachman wearing a +large black hat called 'Huilebalk.' From the rim overlapping the face +hangs a piece of black cord. This he holds in his mouth to prevent the hat +from falling off his head. The hearse itself is generally embellished by +the images of grinning skulls, though the carriages following the hearse +have no distinctive mark. If such a funeral procession happens to come +along the road you yourself are going, you may be sure of enjoying its +company the whole way, for the horses are only allowed to walk, never +trot, and it takes hours to get to the cemetery. In former days the horses +were specially shod for this occasion in such a way that they went lame on +one leg. This end was achieved by driving the nail of the shoe into the +animal's foot, for people thought this added to the doleful aspect of the +<i>corétge</i> as it advanced slowly along the road. Happily this cruelty is +now dispensed with, and indeed is entirely forbidden by the Society for +the Prevention of Cruelty to Animais, but the ugly aspect of the hearses +remains the same.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus25.png"><img src="images/illus25.png" alt="An Overyssel Peasant Woman." title="An Overyssel Peasant Woman." /><br /> +An Overyssel Peasant Woman.</a></p> + +<p>At a death, the relatives of the deceased have large cards printed, +announcing the family loss. These cards are taken round to every house in +the neighbourhood by a man specially hired for the purpose. This man, +called an 'Aanspreker,' carries a list of the names and addresses of the +people on whom he has to leave the cards; if the people sending out the +cards have friends in any other street of the town, a card is left at +every house in that street.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus26.png"><img src="images/illus26.png" alt="Zeeland Children in State." title="Zeeland Children in State." /><br /> +Zeeland Children in State.</a></p> + +<p>If the deceased was an officer, the cards, beside being sent round in +the neighbourhood, are left at every officer's house throughout the +town. To whichever profession the deceased belonged, to the people of +that profession the cards are sent. A Minister of State or any other +person occupying a very high position sends cards to every house in the +town and suburbs.</p> + +<p>In a village or country place a funeral is rather a popular event, and +the preparations for it somewhat resemble the preparations for a feast. +This, for instance, is the case in Overyssel. When one of a family dies, +the nearest relatives immediately call in the neighbouring women, and +these take upon themselves all the necessary arrangements. They send +round messages announcing the death and day of interment; they buy +coffee, sugar-candy, and a bottle of gin, wherewith to refresh themselves +while making the shroud and dressing the dead body; and the next morning +they take care that the church bells are duly rung, and, in the +afternoon, when the relations and friends come to offer their +condolences, they serve them, as they sit round the bier, with black +bread and coffee. When the plates and cups are empty the visitors leave +again without having spoken a word.</p> + +<p>On the day of the funeral, the guests assemble at two o'clock in the +afternoon. They first sit round the tables and eat and drink in silence, +and when the first batch have satisfied their appetites they move away and +make room for others. After this meal all walk round the coffin, and +repeat, one after another, 'Twas een goed mensch,' ('He or she was a good +man or woman,' as the case may be). Then the lid of the coffin is fastened +down with twelve wooden pegs, which the most honoured guest is allowed to +hammer in, and the coffin is forthwith placed on an ordinary farm-cart. +The nearest relations get in, too, and sit on the coffin, and the other +women on the cart facing the coffin. This custom is adhered to, +notwithstanding the prohibition by law to sit on any conveyance carrying a +coffin. The women are in mourning from tip to toe, and closely enveloped +in black merino shawls, which they wear over their heads. The men follow +on foot, and it is a picturesque though melancholy sight to watch these +funeral processions, always at close of day, solemnly wending their way +along the road, the dark figures of the women silhouetted against a sky +all aglow with those glorious sunsets for which Overyssel is famous.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_10"></a>Chapter X</h1> + +<h2>Kermis and St. Nicholas</h2> + + + +<p>Of all the festivals and occasions of popular rejoicing and merriment in +Holland none can compare with the Kermis and the Festival of St. Nicholas, +which are in many ways peculiarly characteristic of Dutch life and Dutch +love for primitive usage. The Kermis is particularly popular, because of +the manifold amusements which are associated with it, and because it +unites all classes of the population in the common pursuit of +unsophisticated pleasure. As its name implies, the Kermis ('Kerk-mis') has +a religious origin, being named after the chief part of the Church +service, the mass. Just as the Feast of St. Baro received the name +'Bamisse,' so that of the consecration of the church was called the +'Church-mass,' or 'Kerk-mis.' In ancient times, if a church was +consecrated on the name-day of a certain saint the church was also +dedicated to that saint. Such a festival was a chief festival, or 'Hoof +feest,' for a church, and it was not only celebrated with great pomp and +solemnity, but amusements of all kinds were added to give the celebration +a more festive character. In large towns there were Kermissen at different +times of the year in different parishes, for each church was dedicated to +a different saint, so that there were as many dedicatory feasts in a town +as there were churches in it.</p> + +<p>At a very early period in the nation's history the Church-masses began to +wear a more worldly character, for the merchants made them an occasion for +introducing their wares and trading with the people, just as they did at +the ordinary 'year-markets.' These year-markets always fell on the same +day as the Kermissen, but they had a different origin. They were held by +permission of the Sovereign, and were first instituted to encourage trade; +but gradually the Kermis and the year-market went hand-in-hand, for the +people could no longer imagine a year-market without the Kermis +amusements, or a Kermis without booths and stalls, so if there was not +sufficient room for the latter to be built on the streets or squares, the +priest allowed them to be put up in the churchyard or sometimes even in +the church. Moreover, if it was not possible to have the year-market in +the same week as the Kermis, then the Kermis was put off to suit the +year-market, and these latter were of great aid to the religious +festivals, for they attracted a greater number of people, and as +dispensations were given for attending the masses both the churches and +the markets benefited. The mass lasted eight days, and the year-market as +long as the Church festival. The Church protected the year-markets, and +rang them in. With the first stroke of the Kermis clock the year-market +was opened and the first dance commenced, followed by a grand procession, +in which all the principal people of the town took part, and when the last +stroke died away white crosses were nailed upon all the bridges, and on +the gates of the town. These served both as a passport and also as a token +of the 'markt vrede' (market peace), so that any one seeing the cross knew +that he might enter the town and buy and sell <i>ad libitum</i>, also that his +peace and safety were guaranteed, and that any one who disturbed the +'markt vrede' would be banished from the place, and not be allowed to come +back another year. In some places this yearly market was named, after the +crosses, 'Cruyce-markt.'</p> + +<p>Very festive is the appearance of a town in the Kermis week. On the +opening day, at twelve o'clock, the bells of the cathedral or chief +church are set ringing, and this is the sign for the booths to be opened +and the 'Kermispret' to begin. Everywhere tempting stores are displayed +to view, and although a scent of oil and burning fat pervades the air, +nobody seems to mind that, for it only increases the delight the Kermis +has in store for them. The stalls are generally set out in two rows. The +most primitive of these is the stall of hard-boiled eggs and pickled +gherkins, whose owner is probably a Jew, and pleasant sounds his hoarse +voice while praising his wares high above all others. If he does prevail +upon you to come and try one of his eggs and gherkins it only adds more +relish to your meal when he tells you of the man who only paid one cent +for a large gherkin which really cost two, and although he already had +put it in his mouth he made him put the other part back. Or when you go +to eat 'poffertjes,' which look so tempting, and with the first bite find +a quid of tobacco in the inoffensive-looking little morsel, do not let +this trifling incident disturb your equanimity, but try another booth. It +is quite worth your while to stand in front of a 'poffertjeskraam' and +see how they are made. The batter is simply buckwheat-meal mixed with +water, and some yeast to make it light. Over a bright fire of logs is +placed a large, square, iron baking-sheet with deep impressions for the +reception of the batter. On one side sits a woman on a high stool, with a +bowl of the mixture by her side and a large wooden ladle in her hand. +This she dips into the batter, bringing it out full, then with a quick +sweep of the arm she empties its contents into the hollows of the +baking-sheet. A man standing by turns them dexterously one by one with a +steel fork, and a moment later he pricks them six at a time on to the +fork; this he docs four times to get a plateful, and then he hands it +over to another man inside the booth, who adds a pat of butter and a +liberal sprinkling of sugar. The 'wafelkramen' are not so largely +patronized, as the price of these delicacies is rather too high for the +slender purses of the average 'Kermis houwer,' but 'oliebollen'--round +ball-shaped cakes swimming in oil--are within the reach of all, as they +cost but a cent apiece. Servants and their lovers, after satisfying their +appetites with these 'oliebollen,' go and have a few turns in the +roundabouts by way of a change, and then hurry to the fish stall, where +they eat a raw salted herring to counteract the effects of the earlier +dissipation. The more respectable servant, however, turns up her nose at +the herrings, and goes in for smoked eel. These fish-stalls are very +quaint in appearance, for they are hung with garlands of dried +'scharretje' (a white, thin, leathery-looking fish), which dangle in +front, and form a most original decoration. In the towns a separate day +and evening are set apart for the servant classes to go to the fair, and +there is also a day for the <i>élite</i>.</p> + +<p>At the commencement of the reign of King William III. the whole Court, +including the King and Queen, used to meet at The Hague Kermis on the +Lange Voorhout on Thursday afternoons, between two and four o'clock, and +walk up and down between the double row of stalls; and in the evening of +that day they all visited either the most renowned circus of the season or +went to see the 'Kermis stuk,' or special play acted in fan-time.</p> + +<p>The servants' evening, as it is held in Rotterdam, is the most +characteristic. It is an evening shunned by the more respectable people, +for the 'Kermisgangers are a very rowdy lot. They amuse themselves chiefly +by running along the streets in long rows, arm-in-arm, singing +'Hossen--hossen-hossen!' They also treat each other to 'Nieuw rood met +suiker'--black currants preserved in gin with sugar--until they are all +quite tipsy, and woe to any quiet pedestrian who has the misfortune to +pass their way, for with loud 'Hi-has' they encircle him and make him +'hos' with them. The evening is commonly called the 'Aalbessen +(black-currant) hos.'</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus27.png"><img src="images/illus27.png" alt="Kermis: 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' (After the Picture of Van Geldrop)" title="Kermis: 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' (After the Picture of Van Geldrop)" /><br /> +Kermis: 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' <i>(After the Picture of Van +Geldrop</i>)</a></p> + +<p>An equally curious but not so bad a custom is the Groninger 'Koek eten.' +All Groningers are fond of cake, and the 'Groninger kauke' is a widespread +and very tasty production; but for this special purpose is used the +'ellekoek,' a very long thin cake, which, as its name implies, is sold by +the yard. It is very tough, and just thin enough to hold in a large mouth, +and when a man chooses a girl to keep Kermis with him they must first see +whether they will suit one another as 'Vryer and Vryster' by eating +'ellekoek.' This is done in the following manner. They stand opposite one +another, and each begins at an end and eats towards the other. They may +not touch the cake with their hands, but must hold it between their teeth +all the while they are eating, and if they are unable to accomplish this +feat and kiss when they get to the middle it is a sure sign that they are +not suited to one another, and so the partnership is not concluded. In +some parts of Friesland and in Voorburg, one of the many villages near The +Hague, there is another cake custom, the 'Koekslän,' which is a sort of +cake lottery. The cakes are all put out on large blocks, which are higher +at the sides than in the middle, and, for twopence, any one who likes may +try his luck and see if he can break the cake in two by striking it with a +stout stick provided by the stall-keeper for the purpose. It is necessary +to do this in one blow, for a second try involves the payment of another +fee. He who succeeds carries off the broken cake, and receives a second +one as a prize. Some men are very clever at this, and manage to carry off +a good many prizes.</p> + +<p>Just as the Kermis is rung in by the bells, so also it is tolled out +again. This, however, is not an official proceeding, but a custom among +the schoolboys of the Gymnasium and Higher Burgher Schools. At The Hague, +on the last day of the fair, all the 'schooljeugd' assembled in the Lange +Voorhout, dressed in black, just as they would dress for a funeral, while +four of them carried a bier, hung with wreaths and black draperies. On +this bier was supposed to rest all that remained of the Kermis. In front +of the bier walked a boy ringing a large bell, and proclaiming, 'De Kermis +is dood, de Kermis wordt begraven' ('The Kermis is dead, and is going to +be buried'). Behind the bier came all the other boys with the most +mournful expression upon their faces they could muster for the occasion, +and thus they carried the 'dead fair' through the principal streets of the +town, and at last buried it in the 'Scheveningsche Boschjes.' But this +custom is now a thing of the past, for the Kermis at The Hague has been +abolished, even as it has been abolished in most of the other towns +throughout the kingdom, for all authorities were agreed that fair-time +promoted vice and drunkenness, and the old-fashioned Kermis is now only to +be found in Rotterdam, Leyden, Delft, and some of the smaller provincial +towns and villages.</p> + +<p>The 6th of December is the day dedicated to St. Nicholas, and its vigil is +one of the most characteristic of Dutch festivals. It is an evening for +family reunions, and is filled with old recollections for the elders and +new delights for the younger people and children. Just as English people +give presents at Christmas time, so do the Dutch at St. Nicholas, only in +a different way, for St. Nicholas presents must be hidden and disguised as +much as possible, and be accompanied by rhymes explaining what the gift is +and for whom St. Nicholas intends it. Sometimes a parcel addressed to one +person will finally turn out to be for quite a different member of the +family than the one who first received it, for the address on each wrapper +in the various stages of unpacking makes it necessary for the parcel to +change hands as many times as there are papers to undo. The tiniest +things are sent in immense packing-cases, and sometimes the gifts are +baked in a loaf of bread or hidden in a turf, and the longer it takes +before the present is found the more successful is the 'surprise.'</p> + +<p>The greatest delight to the giver of the parcel is to remain unknown as +long as possible, and even if the present is sent from one member of the +family to another living in the same house the door-bell is always rung by +the servant before she brings the parcel in, to make believe that it has +come from some outsider; and if a parcel has to be taken to a friend's +house it is very often entrusted to a passer-by, with the request to leave +it at the door and ring the bell. In houses where there are many children, +some of the elders dress up as the good Bishop St. Nicholas and his black +servant. The children are always very much impressed by the knowledge St. +Nicholas shows of all their shortcomings, for he usually reminds them of +their little failings, and gives them each an appropriate lecture. +Sometimes he makes them repeat a verse to him or asks them about their +lessons, all of which tends to make the moment of his arrival looked +forward to with much excitement and some trembling, for St. Nicholas +generally announces at what time he is to be expected, so that all may be +in readiness for his reception.</p> + +<p>On the eventful evening a large white sheet is laid out upon the floor in +the middle of the room, and round it stand all the children with sparkling +eyes and flushed faces, eagerly scrutinizing the hand of the clock. As +soon as it points to five minutes before the expected time of the Saint's +arrivai they begin to sing songs to welcome him to their midst, and ask +him to give as liberally as was his wont, meanwhile praising his goodness +and greatness in the most eloquent terms. The first intimation the +children get of the Saint's arrival is a shower of sweets bursting in +upon them. Then, amid the general scramble which ensues, St. Nicholas +suddenly makes his appearance in full episcopal vestments, laden with +presents, while in the rear stands his black servant with an open sack in +one hand in which to put all the naughty boys and girls, and a rod in the +other which he shakes vigorously from time to time. When the presents have +all been distributed, and St. Nicholas has made his adieus, promising to +come back the following year, and the children are packed to bed to dream +of all the fun they have had, the older people begin to enjoy themselves. +First they sit round the table which stands in the middle of the room +under the lamp, and partake of tea and 'speculaas,' until their own +'surprises' begin to arrive. At ten O'clock the room is cleared, the +dust-sheet which was laid down for the children's scramble is taken up, +and all the papers and shavings, boxes and baskets that contained presents +are removed from the floor; the table is spread with a white table-cloth; +'letterbanket' with hot punch or milk chocolate is provided for the +guests; and, when all have taken their seats, a dish of boiled chestnuts, +steaming hot, is brought in and eaten with butter and salt.</p> + +<p>Cigars, the usual resource of Dutchmen when they do not know what to do +with themselves, do not form a feature of this memorable evening +(memorable for this fact also), not so much out of deference to the ladies +who are in their midst as for the reason that they are too fully occupied +with other and even pleasanter employments.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus28.png"><img src="images/illus28.png" alt="St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th." title="St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th." /><br /> +St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th.</a></p> + +<p>The personality of St. Nicholas, as now known by Dutch children, is of +mixed origin, for not merely the Bishop of Lycië, but Woden, the Frisian +god of the elements and of the harvest, figures largely in the legends +attached to his name. Woden possessed a magic robe which enabled him +when arrayed in it to go to any place in the world he wished in the +twinkling of an eye. This same power is attached to the 'Beste tabbaard' +of St. Nicholas, as may be seen from the verse addressed to him:--</p> + +<blockquote> + 'Sint Niklaas, goed, heilig man<br /> + Trek je beste tabberd an<br /> + Ryd er mee naar Amsterdam<br /> + Van Amsterdam naar Spanje.'</blockquote> + +<blockquote> [St. Nicholas, good, holy man<br /> + Put on your best gown<br /> + Ride with it to Amsterdam, <br /> + From Amsterdam to Spain.]</blockquote> + +<p>The horse Sleipnir, on whose back Woden took his autumn ride through the +world, has been converted into the horse of St. Nicholas, on which the +Saint rides about over the roofs of the houses to find out where the good +and where the naughty children live. In pagan days a sheaf of corn was +always left out on the field in harvest time for Woden's horse, and the +children of the present day still carry out the same idea by putting a +wisp of hay in their shoes for the four-footed friend of the good Saint. +The black servant who now always accompanies St. Nicholas is an +importation from America, for the Pilgrim Fathers carried their St. +Nicholas festival with them to the New Country, and some of their +descendants who came to live in Holland brought 'Knecht Ruprecht' with +them, and so added another feature to the St. Nicholas festivity.</p> + +<p>What the Dutch originally knew of the life and works of 'Dominus Sanctus +Nicolaus' was told them by the Spaniards at the time of their influence in +Holland, and so it is believed that the Saint was born at Myra, in Lycie, +and lived in the commencement of the fourth century, in the reign of +Constantine the Great. From his earliest youth he showed signs of great +piety and self-denial, refusing, it is said, even when quite a tiny child, +to take food more than once a day on fast days! His whole life was devoted +to doing good, and even after his death he is credited with performing +many miracles. Maidens and children chiefly claim him as their patron +saint, but he also guards sailors, and legend asserts that many a ship on +the point of being wrecked or stranded has been saved by his timely +influence. During his lifetime the circumstance took place for which he +was ever afterwards recognized as the maidens' guardian. A certain man had +lost all his money, and to rid himself from his miserable situation he +determined to sell his three beautiful daughters for a large sum. St. +Nicholas heard of his intention, and went to the man's house in the night, +taking with him some of the money left him by his parents, and dropped it +through a broken window-pane. The following night St. Nicholas again took +a purse of gold to the poor man's house, and managed to drop it through +the chimney, but when he reached the man's door on the third night it was +suddenly opened from the inside, and the poor man rushed out, caught St. +Nicholas by his robe, and, falling down on his knees before him, +exclaimed, 'O Nicholas, servant of the Lord, wherefore dost thou hide thy +good deeds?' and from that time forth every one knew it was St. Nicholas +who brought presents during the night. In pictures one often sees St. +Nicholas represented with the threefold gift in his hand, in the form of +three golden apples, fruits of the tree of life. Another very well known +Dutch picture is St. Nicholas standing by a tub, from which are emerging +three bags. About fifty years ago such a picture was to be seen in +Amsterdam on the corner house between the Dam and the Damrak, with the +inscription, 'Sinterklaes.' The story runs that three boys once lost their +way in a dark wood, and begged a night's lodging with a farmer and his +wife. While the children were asleep the wicked couple murdered them, +hoping to rob them of all they had with them, but they soon discovered +that the lads had no treasure at all, and so, to guard against detection, +they salted the dead bodies, and put them in the tub with the pigs' flesh. +That same afternoon, while the farmer was at the market, St. Nicholas +appeared to him in his episcopal robes, and asked him whether he had any +pork to sell. The man replied in the negative, when St. Nicholas rejoined, +'What of the three young pigs in your tub? 'This so frightened the farmer +that he confessed his wicked deed, and implored forgiveness. St. Nicholas +thereupon accompanied him to his house, and waved his staff over the +meat-tub, and immediately the three boys stepped forth well and hearty, +and thanked St. Nicholas for restoring them to life.</p> + +<p>The birch rod, which naughty Dutch children have still to fear, has also a +legendary origin, and is not merely an imaginary addition to the +attributes of the Saint. A certain abbot would not allow the responses of +St. Nicholas to be sung in his church, notwithstanding the repeated +requests of the monks of his order, and he dismissed them at last with the +words, 'I consider this music worldly and profane, and shall never give +permission for it to be used in my church.' These words so enraged St. +Nicholas that he came down from the heavens at night when the abbot was +asleep, and, dragging him out of bed by the hair of his head, beat him +with a birch rod he carried in his hand till he was more dead than alive. +The lesson proved salutary, and from that day forth the responses of St. +Nicholas formed a part of the service.</p> + +<p>The St. Nicholas festival has always been kept with the greatest splendour +at Amsterdam. It was there that the festival was first instituted, and the +first church built which was dedicated to his name; for when Gysbrecht +III., Heer van Amstel, had the Amstel dammed, many people came to live +there, and houses arose up on all sides, and naturally, when the want of a +church was felt, and it was built, the good Nicholas was chosen the patron +Saint of the town. On his name-day masses were held in the church, and the +usual Kermis observed, Booths and stalls were set out in two rows all +along the Damrak, where the people of Amsterdam could buy sweets and toys +for their children. Special cakes were baked in the form of a bishop, and +named, after St. Nicholas, 'Klaasjes.' They were looked upon as an +offering dedicated to the Saint according to the old custom of their +forefathers, which can be again traced to the service of Woden.</p> + +<p>Not only Amsterdammers, however, but people from all the neighbouring +towns flocked to the St. Nicholas market, and followed the Amsterdammers' +example of filling their children's shoes with cakes and toys, always +telling them the old legend that St. Nicholas himself brought these +presents through the chimney and put them in their shoes. During and after +the Reformation this now popular festival had to bear a great deal of +opposition, for authors and preachers alike agreed that it was a foolish +feast, and led to superstition and idolatry. Hence the decree was issued, +in the year 1622, that no cakes might be baked and no Kermis held, and +even the children were forbidden to put out their shoes as they were +accustomed to do. But for once in a way people were sensible enough to +understand that giving their children a pleasant evening had nothing to do +either with superstition or idolatry, and so the festival lived on with +Protestants as well as Roman Catholics, although one point was gained by +the Reformers, in that St. Nicholas was no longer looked upon as holy and +worshipped, but was only honoured as the patron Saint and guardian of +their children.</p> + +<p>The fairs which once belonged to the festival of St. Nicholas are no +longer held in the street, at any rate in the larger towns, but the +exchange of presents is as universal as ever, and the shops look as +festive as shops in England do at Christmas-time. In many other ways, +indeed, St. Nicholas corresponds to Christmas in other countries, and +Protestants and Catholics alike observe it, although there is no religions +significance in the festival. The season, too, has its special cakes and +sweets. There are the flat hard cakes, made in the shapes of birds, +beasts, and fishes--the so-called 'Klaasjes'--for they are no longer baked +only in the form of a bishop, as they used to be. Then there is +'Letterbanket,' made, as the name implies, in the form of letters, so that +any one who likes can order his name in cake, and the 'Marsepein' +(marzipan) is now made in all possible shapes, though formerly only in +heart-shaped sweets, ornamented with little turtle-doves made of pink +sugar, or a flaming heart on a little altar. These sweets, it is said, +were invented by St. Nicholas himself, when he was a bishop, for the +benefit and use of lovers; for St. Nicholas held the office of +'Hylik-maker,' and many a couple were united by him. That is why the +confectioners bake 'Vryers and Vrysters' of cake at St. Nicholas time. If +a young man wanted to find out whether a girl cared for him, he used to +send her a heart of 'Marsepein' and a 'Vryer' of cake. Should she accept +this present he knew he had nothing to fear, but if she declined to accept +it he knew there was no hope for him in that quarter. These large dolls of +cake were usually decorated with strips of gold paper pasted over them, +but this fashion has gone out of use, and has caused the death of another +old custom; for it used to be a great treat for children and young people +to go and help the confectioners (who wrote all their customers an +invitation for that evening) on the 4th of December to prepare their goods +for the 'étalage.' Any cake that broke while in their hands they were +allowed to eat, and no doubt many did break.</p> + +<p>It is not likely that this celebration of St. Nicholas will ever be +abolished, and the shopkeepers do their best to perpetuate it by offering +new attractions for the little folk every year. Figures of St. Nicholas, +life-size, are placed before their windows; and some even have a man +dressed like the good Saint, who goes about the streets, mounted on a +white steed, while behind him follows a cart laden with parcels, which +have been ordered and are left in this way at the different houses. Crowds +of children, singing, shouting, and clapping their hands, follow in the +rear, adding to the noise and bustle of the already crowded streets, but +people are too good-natured at St. Nicholas time to expostulate. Smiling +faces, mirth, and jollity abound everywhere, and good feeling unites all +men as brethren on this most popular of all the Dutch festivals.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_11"></a>Chapter XI</h1> + +<h2>National Amusements</h2> + + + +<p>Holland, like other countries, is indebted to primitive and classic +times for most of its national amusements and children's games, which +have been handed down from generation to generation. Many of the same +games have been played under many differing Governments and opposing +creeds. Hollander and Spaniard, Protestant and Catholic alike have found +common ground in those games and sports which afford so welcome a break +in daily work.</p> + +<p>'Hinkelbaan,' for example, found its way into the Netherlands from far +Phoenicia, whose people invented it. The game of cockal, 'Bikkelen,' still +played by Dutch village children on the blue doorsteps of old-fashioned +houses, together with 'Kaatsen,' was introduced into Holland by Nero +Claudius Druses, and it is stated that he laid out the first 'Kaatsbaan.' +The Frisian peasant is very fond of this game; and also of 'Kolven,' the +older form of golf; and often on a Sunday morning after church he may be +seen dressed in his velvet suit and low-buckled shoes, engaged in these +outdoor sports. About a century ago a game called 'Malien' was universally +played in South Holland and Utrecht. For this it was necessary to have a +large piece of ground, at one end of which poles were erected, joined +together by a porch. The bail was driven by a 'Mahen kolf,' a long stick +with an iron head and a leather grip, and it had to touch both poles and +roll through the porch. The 'Maheveld' at The Hague and the 'Mahebaan' at +Utrecht remind one of the places in which this game was played.</p> + +<p>In Friesland the Sunday game for youths is 'Het slingeren met +Dimterkoek'--throwing Deventer cake. Four persons are required to play +this game. The players divide themselves into opposite parties, and play +against each other. First they toss up to see which of the parties and +which of the boys shall begin. He on whom the lot falls is allowed to +give his turn to his opponent, which he often does if, on feeling the +cake, he notices that it is soft and liable to break easily. If, on the +contrary, it is hard, he keeps the first throw for himself. Holding the +cake firmly in his right hand, he takes a little run, bends backward, and +with a sudden swing throws the cake forward (as one throws a stone) so +that it flies away a good distance, breaking off just at the grip. This +piece, called 'hanslik,' or handpiece, he must keep in his hand, for if +he drops it he must let his turn pass by once, and his throw is not +counted. The distance of the throw is now measured and noted down, +whereupon one of the opposing party takes the piece of cake and throws +it, and so it goes on alternately till each has had a turn. The distances +of the throws of every two boys are counted together, and the side which +has the most points wins.</p> + +<p>There are also games played only at certain seasons of the year, as the +'Eiergaren' at Easter-time. This was very popular even in the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries. On Easter Monday all the village people betake +themselves to the principal street of the 'dorp' to watch the +'eiergaarder.' At about two o'clock in the afternoon the innkeeper who +provides the eggs appears upon the scene with a basket containing +twenty-five. These he places on the road at equal distances of twelve feet +from each other. In the middle of the road is then placed a tub of water, +on which floats a very large apple, the largest he has been able to +procure. Two men are chosen from the ranks of the villagers. The one is +led to the tub, his hands are tied behind his back, and he is told to eat +the floating apple; the other has to take the basket in his hand and pick +up while running all the eggs and arrange them in the basket before the +apple is eaten. He who finishes his task first is the winner, and carries +off the basket of eggs as a prize. It provokes great fun to see the man +trying to get hold of the floating-apple, which escapes so easily from the +grasp of his teeth, but some men are wise enough to push the apple against +the side of the tub, and of course as soon as they have taken one bite the +rest is easily eaten. When the game is over, the greater number of the +villagers go and drink to the good health of the winner at the +public-house, and so the innkeeper makes a good thing out of this custom +also, and for a game like this it is certainly wise to refresh one's self +<i>after</i> the event. Skittles and billiards are very popular with the +peasant and working classes on Sunday afternoons, the only free time a +labourer has for recreation. Games of chance, also, in which skill is at a +minimum, are as numerous in Holland as in any other country.</p> + +<p>Children's games naturally occupy a large share in young Netherlands life, +especially outdoor romping games. Of indoor games there are very few, a +fact which may, perhaps, be accounted for by the custom of allowing +children to play in the streets. In former days children of all classes +played together in outdoor sports and games, and developed both their +muscles and their republican character. Even Prince Frederik Hendrik (who +was brother to and succeeded Prince Maurits in 1625), when at school at +Leyden, mixed freely with his more humble companions, and was often +mistaken for an ordinary schoolboy, and an old woman once sharply rebuked +him for daring to use her boat-hook to fish his ball out of the water into +which it had fallen. Nor did she notice to whom she was speaking until a +passer-by called her attention to the fact that it was the Prince, +whereupon the poor old soul became so frightened that she durst not +venture out of her house for weeks from imaginary fear of falling into the +clutches of the law, and ending her days in prison.</p> + +<p>Games may be divided into two classes, those played with toys and those +for which no toys are needed; but whatever the games may be they all have +their special seasons. Once a man wrote an almanack on children's games, +and noted down ail the different sports and their seasons, but, as the +poet Huggens truly said,</p> + +<blockquote> 'De kindren weten tyd van knickeren en kooten, <br /> + En zonder almanack en ist hen nooit ontschoten,'</blockquote> + +<p>which, freely translated, means that children know which games are in +season by intuition, and do not need an almanack, so he might have saved +himself the trouble. 'The children know the time to play marbles and +"Kooten," and without an almanack have not forgotten.'</p> + +<p>In the eighteenth century driving a hoop was as popular an amusement with +children as it is now, only then it was also a sport, and prizes were +given to the most skilful. In fact, hoop-races were held, and boys and +girls alike joined in them. They had to drive their hoops a certain +distance, and the one who first reached the goal received a silver coin +for a prize. This coin was fastened to the hoop as a trophy, and the more +noise a hoop made while rolling over the streets the greater the honour +for the owner of it, for it showed that a great many prizes had been +gained. In Drenthe the popular game for boys is 'Man ik sta op je +blokhuis,' similar to 'I am the King of the Castle,' but there is also the +'Windspel.' For the latter a piece of wood and a ball are necessary. The +wood is placed upon a pole and the ball laid on one side of it, then with +a stick the child strikes as hard as possible the other side of the piece +of wood, at the same time calling 'W-i-n-d,' and the ball flies up into +the air, and may be almost lost to sight.</p> + +<p>'Boer lap den Buis,' an exciting game from a boy's point of view, is a +general favourite in Gelderland and Overyssel. For this the boys build a +sort of castle with large stones, and after tossing up to see who is to be +'Boer,' the boy on whom the lot has fallen stands in the stone fortress, +and the others throw stones at it from a distance, to see whether they can +knock bits off it. As soon as one succeeds in doing so he runs to get back +his stone, at the same time calling out 'Boer, lap den buis,' signifying +that the 'Boer' must mend the castle. If the 'Boer' accomplishes this, and +touches the bag before he has picked up his stone, they change places, and +the game begins anew.</p> + +<p>Little girls of the labouring classes have not much time for games of any +sort, for they are generally required at home to act as nursemaids and +help in many other duties of the home life, but sometimes on summer +afternoons they bring out their younger brothers and sisters, their +knitting and a skipping-rope, which they take in turns, and so pass a few +pleasant hours free from their share (not an inconsiderable one) of +household cares, or in the evenings, when the younger members of the +family are in bed, they will be quite happy with a bit of rope and their +skipping songs, of which they seem to know many hundreds, and which might +be sung with equal reason to any other game under the sun for all the +words have to do with skipping.</p> + +<p>After a long spell of rain the first fall of snow is hailed with +delight, for it is a sign that frost is not far off. Jack Frost, after +several preliminary appearances in December, usually pays his first long +visit in January (sometimes, however, this is but a flying visit of two +or three days), and, as a rule, a Dutchman may reckon on a good hard +winter. As soon, therefore, as he sees the snow he thinks of the good +old saying--'Sneeuw op slik in drie dagen ys dun of dik' ('Snow on mud +in three days' time, thin or thick'). Ice is to be expected, and he gets +out his skates with all speed. This is one of the few occasions when the +people of the Netherlands are enthusiastic. Certainly skating is <i>the</i> +national sport. The ditches are always the first to be tried, as the +water in them is very shallow, and naturally freezes sooner than the +very deep and exposed waters of river and canal, over which the wind, +which is always blowing in Holland, has fair play; but when once these +are frozen, then skating begins in real earnest. The tracks are all +marked out by the Hollandsche Ysvereeniging, a society which was founded +in 1889 in South Holland, and which the other provinces have now joined. +Finger-posts to point the way are put up by this society at all +cross-roads and ditches, with notices to mark the dangerous places, +while the newspapers of the day contain reports as to which roads are +the best to take, and which trips can be planned. For people living in +South Holland the first trip is always to the Vink at Leyden, as it can +be reached by narrow streams and ditches, and it is quite a sight to see +the skaters sitting at little tables with plates of steaming hot soup +before them. The Vink has been famous for its pea soup many years, and +has been known as a restaurant from 1768. When the Galgenwater is frozen +(the mouth of the Rhine which flows into the sea at Kat wyk), then the +Vink has a still gayer appearance, for not only skaters, but pedestrians +from Leyden and the villages round about that town, flock to this <i>cafe</i> +to watch the skating and enjoy the amusing scenes which the presence of +the ice affords them. Then the broad expanse of water, which in summer +looks so deserted and gloomy as it flows silently and dreamily towards +the sea, is dotted ail over with tents, flags, 'baanvegers,' and, if the +ice is strong, even sleighs.</p> + +<p>Among the peasant classes of South Holland it is the custom, as soon as +the ice will bear, to skate to Gouda, men and women together, there to buy +long Gouda pipes for the men and 'Goudsche sprits' for the women, and then +to skate home with these brittle objects without breaking them. As they +come along side by side, the farmer holding his pipe high above his head +and the woman carefully holding her bag of cakes, every passer-by knocks +against them and tries to upset them, but it seldom happens that they +succeed in doing so, as a farmer stands very firmly on his skates, and, as +a rule, he manages to keep his pipe intact after skating many miles. The +longest trip for the people of South Holland, North Holland, and Utrecht, +is through these three provinces, and the way over the ice-clad country is +quite as picturesque as in summer-time, the little mills, quaint old +drawbridges, and rustic farmhouses losing nothing of their charm in winter +garb. All along the banks of the canals and rivers little tents are put +up to keep out the wind; a roughly fashioned rickety table stands on the +ice under the shelter of the matting, and here are sold all manner of +things for the skaters to refresh themselves with--hot milk boiled with +aniseed and served out of very sticky cups, stale biscuits, and sweet +cake. The tent-holders call out their wares in the most poetical language +they can muster--</p> + +<blockquote> 'Leg ereis an! Leg ereis an! <br /> + In het tentje by de man. <br /> + Warme melk en zoete koek<br /> + En een bevrozen vaatedoek.'</blockquote> + +<blockquote> ['Put up, put up<br /> + At the tent with the man; <br /> + Warm milk and sweet cake, <br /> + And a frozen dish-cloth.']</blockquote> + +<p>and they tell you plainly that you may expect unwashed cups, for the cloth +wherewith to wipe them is frozen, as well as the water to cleanse them.</p> + +<p>Under the bridges the ice is not always safe, and even if it has become +safe the men break it up so that they may earn a few cents by people +passing over their roughly constructed gangways, and so boards are laid +down by the 'baanvegers' for the skaters to pass over without risking +their lives. Besides making these wooden bridges, the 'baanvegers' keep +the tracks clean. Every hundred yards or so one is greeted by the +monotonous cry of 'Denk ereis an de baanveger,' so that on long trips +these sweepers are a great nuisance, for having to get out one's purse and +give them cents greatly impedes progress. The Ice Society has, however, +minimized the annoyance by appointing 'baanvegers' who work for it and +are paid out of the common funds, so that the members of the society who +wear their badge can pass a 'baanveger' with a clear conscience, while as +the result of this combination you can skate over miles of good and +well-swept ice without interference for the modest sum of tenpence, this +being the cost of membership of the society for the whole season.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus29.png"><img src="images/illus29.png" alt="Skating to Church." title="Skating to Church." /><br /> +Skating to Church.</a></p> + +<p>The Kralinger Plassen and the Maas near Rotterdam are greatly frequented +spots for carnivals on the ice, but the grandest place for skating and ice +sports of all kinds is the Zuyder Zee. In a severe winter this large +expanse of ice connects instead of dividing Friesland with North Holland. +Here we see the little ice-boats flying over the glossy surface as fast as +a bird on the wing, and sleighs drawn by horses with waving plumes, while +thousands of people flock from Amsterdam to the little Isle of Marken, and +the variety of costume and colour swaying to and fro on the fettered +billows of the restless inland sea makes it seem for the moment as though +the Netherlander's dream had come true, and Zuyder Zee had really become +once more dry land. In winter every one, from the smallest to the +greatest, gives himself up to ice-sports, and even the poor are not +forgotten. In some villages races are proclaimed, for which the prizes are +turfs, potatoes, rice, coals, and other things so welcome to the poor in +cold weather. A racer is appolnted for every poor family, and where there +are no sons big enough to join in the races, a young man of the better +classes generally offers his services, and, when successful, hands his +prize over to the family he undertook to help.</p> + +<p>Skating is second nature with the Dutch, and as soon as a child can walk +it is put upon skates, even though they may often be much too big for it. +Moreover, when the ice is good, winter-time affords recreation for the +working as well as the leisured classes, for the canals and rivers become +roads, and the hard-worked errand-boys, the butchers' and the bakers' boys +manage to secure many hours of delightful enjoyment as they travel for +orders on skates. The milkman also takes his milk-cart round on a sledge, +and the farmers skate to market, saving both time and money, for then +there is no railway fare to be paid, and a really good skater goes almost +as fast as a train in Holland--especially the Frisian farmers, for +Frisians are renowned for their swift skating, and the most famous racer +of the commencement of the nineteenth century, Kornelis Ynzes Reen, skated +four miles in five minutes.</p> + +<p>But although the ice affords, and always has afforded, so much pleasure, +there are periods in history when the frost caused great anxiety to the +people of the Netherlands. The cities Naarden and Dordrecht are easily +reached by water, and when that is frozen it would give any one free +access to the town, and so in time of war frost was a much-dreaded thing. +In the year 1672 this fear was realized, for when the ships of the Geuzen +round about Naarden were stuck fast in the ice, and the Zuyder Zee was +frozen, the enemy, armed with canoes and battle-axes, came over the ice +from the Y and across the Zuyder Zee to Naarden. The best skaters among +the Geuzen immediately volunteered to meet the Spaniards on the ice. They +took only their swords with them, and while the ships' cannon had fair +play from the bulwarks of the vessels over the heads of the Geuzen into +the Spanish ranks, the Geuzen could approach them fearlessly and +unmolested for a hand-to-hand fight. The Spaniards, who, besides being +very heavily armed were very bad skaters, were soon defeated, for they +kept tumbling over each other. The Geuzen pursued them to Amsterdam, and +then returned to their ships, where they were greeted with great +enthusiasm, and, as the thaw set in the next day, they were happily saved +from a renewed attack.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_12"></a>Chapter XII</h1> + +<h2>Music and the Theatre</h2> + + + +<p>Singing was one of the principal social pastimes of the Dutch nation +during the eighteenth and far into the nineteenth century, and the North +Hollander was especially fond of vocal music. When young girls went to +spend the evening at the house of a friend they always carried with them +their 'Liederboek '--a volume beautifully bound in tortoise-shell covers +or mounted with gold or silver. The songs contained in these books were a +strange mixture of the gay and grave. Jovial drinking-songs or +'Kermisliedjes' would find a place next to a 'Christian's Meditation on +Death.' It was an <i>olla podrida</i>, in which everybody's tastes were +considered. Recitations were also a feature of these little gatherings.</p> + +<p>Nowadays these national songs are rarely heard. French, Italian, and +German songs have taken their place, and it is but seldom one hears a real +Dutch song at any social gathering. The 'people,' too, seem to have +forgotten their natural gift of poetry, for the only songs now heard about +the streets are badly translated French or English ditties. If England +brings out a comic song of questionable art, six months later that song +will have made its way to Holland, and will have taken a popular place in +a Dutch street musician's <i>répertoire;</i> it will be whistled in many +different keys by butcher and baker boys, and will be heard issuing +painfully from the wonderful mechanism of the superfluous concertina. For +almost every one in Holland possesses some musical instrument on which he +plays, well or otherwise, when his daily work is over, or on Sunday +evenings at home. And here a notable characteristic of the Dutch higher +classes must be mentioned by way of contrast. Musical though they are, +trained as they generally are both to play and sing well, they yet seldom +exercise their gifts in a friendly, social, after-dinner way in their own +homes. They become, in fact, so critical or so self-conscious that they +prefer to pay to hear music rendered by recognized artists, and so a by no +means inconsiderable element of geniality is lost to the social and +domestic circle.</p> + +<p>The decay of folk-song is the more regrettable, since Holland is rich in +old ballads, some of which, handed down just as the people used to sing +them centuries ago, are quaint, <i>naïve,</i> and exceedingly pretty. The +melodies have all been put to modern harmonies by able composers, and +published for the use of the public.</p> + +<blockquote> 'Het daghet in het oosten, <br /> + Het lichtis overal,'</blockquote> + +<p>is a little jewel of poetic feeling, and the melody is very sweet. The +story, like most of the songs of the past troublous centuries, tells of +a battlefield where a young girl goes to seek her lover, but finds him +dead. So, after burying him with her own white hands, with his sword +and his banner by his side, she vows entrance into a convent. The story +is a picture in miniature of the times, and as a piece of literature it +ranks high.</p> + +<p>Music of some sort finds a place in the homes of the poorest, and the +concert, theatre, and opera are as much frequented by the humble of the +land as by the wealthy and noble born. The servant class on their 'evening +out' frequently go to the French opera, and there is not a boy on the +street but is able to whistle some tune from the great modern operas, such +as 'Faust,' 'Lohengrin,' and other standard works. And no wonder, for the +choristers in the operas walk behind fruit-carts all day long, and often +call out their wares in the musical tones learnt while following their +more select profession as public singers. Some, of course, cannot read a +note of music, and the melodies they have to sing have to be drummed, or +rather trumpeted, into their ears. To this end they are placed in a row, +and a man with a large trumpet stands before them and plays the tune over +and over again until they know it off. In the summer-time whole parties of +these Jewish youths--for Jewish they chiefly are--go about the woods on +their Sabbath day singing the parts they take in the operas in the winter +season, and crowds of people flock to hear them, for their voices are +really well worth listening to.</p> + +<p>Concerts are naturally not so largely patronized by the people as are +operas and theatres. In the larger towns of Holland especially theatricals +take a very prominent place in popular relaxation, and even the smaller +towns and villages, should they lack theatres and be unable to get good +theatrical companies to pay them periodical visits, arrange for dramatic +performances by local talent. The popularity of the opera may be judged +from the fact that at Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen, Arnhem +and Utrecht, operas in Dutch and French are regularly given, and +occasionally works in German and even Italian are produced. Money is +scarce in Holland, the people generally have little to spare, so grand +opera-houses, such as are thought necessary in most European cities of any +pretension to culture, are impossible, and the singers can seldom count on +liberal fees. But most of the best works are heard all the same--which, +after all, is the principal thing--and the enjoyment and edification which +result are not less genuine because of the simplicity of the properties +and the humble character of the entire surroundings.</p> + +<p>Yet outdoor music possesses a powerful attraction for the Dutch humbler +classes, as for the same classes in most, if not all, countries; and when +in the summer-time there is music in the Wood at The Hague on Sunday +afternoons or Wednesday evenings, the walks round about the 'Tent' are +alive with servants and their lovers, parading decorously arm-in-arm. +Happy fathers, too, with their wives and children in Sunday best, +perambulate the grounds or rest on the seats amongst the trees and listen +to the 'Bosch-muziek.' People of the better class only are members of the +'Witte Societeit,' and sit inside the green paling to listen to the music +and drink something meanwhile. For it is strange but true, that a Dutchman +never seems thoroughly to enjoy himself unless he has liquid of some sort +at hand, and never feels really comfortable without his cigar. Indeed, if +smoking were abolished from places of public amusement, most Dutchmen +would frequent them no more. In winter concerts are given every other +Wednesday at The Hague--and what is true of The Hague applies to Amsterdam +and all other towns of any size in the country--and the Public Hall is +always packed; but besides these 'Diligentia' concerts there are others +given by various Singing Societies, so that there is variety enough to +choose from.</p> + +<p>In the summer-time there is another attraction besides the Wood for the +people of The Hague, for the season at Scheveningen opens on the 1st of +June, and there is music at the Kurhaus twice a day--in the afternoon on +the terrace of that building, and in the evening in the great hall inside. +On Friday night is given what is called a 'Symphony Concert.' To this all +the world flocks, for no one who at all respects himself, or esteems the +opinion of society, would venture to miss it. Whether every one +understands or enjoys the high class music given is another question, +which it would be imprudent to press too urgently, but then it belongs to +'education' to go to concerts, and so all enjoy it in their own way. For +the townspeople and the working-classes, who have no free time during the +week, concerts are given at the large Voorhout on the Sunday evenings in +summer, so that on that day even the busiest and poorest may enjoy +recreation of a better kind than the public-house offers them, and this +effort on their behalf is greatly appreciated by the people, who gladly +make use of the opportunities of hearing good and popular music.</p> + +<p>The national love of music is assiduously fostered by the Netherlands +Musical Union, whose branches are to be found all over the country. Every +town has musical and singing societies of some kind--private as well as +public--and these make life quite endurable in winter, even in the +smallest places. Nor do these 'Zangvereenigingen' derive their membership +exclusively from the higher classes, for the humbler folk have +organizations of their own. Even the servant girl and the day-labourer +will often be found to belong to singing clubs of some kind. Music is also +taught at most of the public schools, though it was long before the +Government capitulated upon the point, and gave this subject a place side +by side with drawing as part of the normal curriculum of the children of +the people.</p> + +<p>Happily for the musical and dramatic tastes of the nation, both the +concert and the theatre are cheap amusements in Holland. As a rule, the +dearest seats cost only from 3s. to 5s., while the cheapest, even in +first-class houses at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, cost as little +as sixpence. The only exceptions are when renowned artists tour the +country, and even then the prices seldom exceed £1 for the best places. +There is one musical event which makes a more serious call upon the purse, +and it is the periodical operatic performance of the Wagner Society in +Amsterdam. As a rule, two representations a year are given, and some of +the best singers of Europe are invited to sing in one or other of Wagner's +operas. The best Dutch orchestra plays, and chosen voices from the +Amsterdam Conservatoire take part in the choruses. The scenery is worthy +of Bayreuth itself, and such expense and care are bestowed upon these +choice performances that, though the house is invariably filled on every +occasion, the fees for admission never pay the costs, so that the musical +enthusiasts of Amsterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague regularly make up the +deficit each year, which sometimes amounts to as much as £1000.</p> + +<p>While, however, the Dutch may with truth be classed as a distinctly +musical nation, they would seem to have outlived their fame in the domain +of musical art. For it should not be forgotten that Holland has in this +respect a distinguished history behind it. So long ago as the times of +Pope Adrian I. a Dutch school of music was established under the tuition +of Italian masters, and it compared favourably with the contemporary +schools of other nations. Even in the ninth century Holland produced a +composer famous in the annals of music in the person of the monk Huchbald +of St. Amand, in Flanders. He it was who changed the notation, and +arranged the time by marking the worth of each note, and he is also +remembered for his 'Organum,' the oldest form of music written in +harmonies. It is often lamented that the compositions of to-day lack the +originality which marked the earlier works. The country has none the less +produced some noticeable composers during the past century. Of these J. +Verhuïst, W.F.G. Nicolal, Daniël de Lange, Richard Hol, and G. Mann are +best known, though of no modern composer can it be said that he has any +special 'cachet,' for the younger men, fed as they are on the works of +other nations, grow into their style of thinking and writing, and follow +almost slavishly in their footsteps. It is unfortunate that many rising +composers cannot be persuaded to publish their works. The reason is that +the cost of publishing in the Netherlands is almost fabulous, and if they +do publish them at all it is done in Germany. But even then the +circulation is so limited, owing to the smallness of the country, that it +does not repay the cost; and so they prefer to plod on unknown, or to +cultivate celebrity by giving private concerts of their own works.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_13"></a>Chapter XIII</h1> + +<h2>Schools and School Life</h2> + + + +<p>If the Dutch peasant is not generally well educated it is not for want of +opportunity, but rather because he has not taken what is offered him. For +many years past a good elementary education has been within the reach of +all. Even the small fees usually asked may be remitted in the case of +those parents who cannot afford to pay anything, without entailing any +civil disability; but attendance at school was only made compulsory by an +Act which passed the Second Chamber in March, 1900, and which, at the time +of writing, has just come into force. It is said that as many as sixty +thousand Dutch children are getting no regular schooling. About one half +of this number live on the canal-boats, and will probably give a good deal +of trouble to those who will administer the new Act; for, as we have +already seen, the families that these boats belong to have no other homes +and are always on the move, so that it must ever be difficult to get hold +of the children, especially as their parents do not see the necessity of +sending them to school. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether any +great improvement will resuit from the new Act, especially as private +tuition may take the place of attendance at a school, and exemption is +granted to those who have no fixed place of abode, and to parents who +object to the tuition given in all the schools within two and a half miles +of their homes. Under these conditions it seems that any one who wishes to +evade the law will have little difficulty in doing so. The canal-boat +people, apparently, are exempt so long as they do not remain for +twenty-eight days consecutively in the same 'gemeente,' or commune.</p> + +<p>The education provided by the State is strictly neutral in regard to +religion and politics, but there are many denominational schools all over +the country. Protestants call theirs 'Bible schools,' and Romanists call +theirs 'Catholic schools,' and both these receive subsidies from the State +if they satisfy the inspectors. Private schools also exist, but do not as +a rule receive State aid. They are all, however, under State supervision +and subject to the same conditions as to teachers' qualifications; and a +very good rule is in force, namely, that no one may teach in Holland +without having passed a Government examination.</p> + +<p>Instruction in the elementary schools supported by Government is in two +grades, though the dividing line is not always clearly drawn. In +Amsterdam, for example, there are four different grades. In the lower +schools the subjects taught are, besides reading, writing, and +arithmetic, grammar and history, geography, natural history and botany, +drawing, singing and free gymnastics, and the girls also learn +needlework, but a large proportion of the pupils are satisfied with a +more modest course, and know little more than the three R's. The children +attending these schools are between six and twelve years of age, though +in some rural districts few of them are less than eight years old, but +according to the new law they must begin to attend when they are seven +and go on until they are twelve or thirteen according to the standard +attained. In the upper grade schools the same subjects are taught in a +more advanced form, with the addition of universal history, French, +German, and English. These languages, being optional, are taught more or +less after regular school hours.</p> + +<p>All the teachers in these schools must hold teachers' or head-teachers' +certificates, to gain which they have to pass an examination in all the +subjects which they are to teach except languages, for each of which a +separate certificate is required. Every commune must have a school, though +hitherto no one has been obliged to attend it, and lately, owing to the +new Education Act, the builders have been busy in many places enlarging +the schools to meet the new requirements. If there are more than forty +children two masters are now necessary, and for more than ninety there +must be at least three. Ten weeks' holidays are allowed in the year, and +these are to be given when the children are most wanted to help at home, +in addition to which leave of absence may be granted in certain cases by +the district inspectors. Holidays, therefore, vary according to the +conditions of a town or village.</p> + +<p>All schools are more or less under State control. They are divided into +three classes according to the type of education which they provide. Lower +or elementary education has already been dealt with. Between this and the +higher education of the 'Gymnasia' and Universities comes what is called +'middelbaar onderwijs'--that is, secondary, or rather intermediate, +education. This is represented by technical or industrial schools, +'Burgher night schools,' and 'Higher burgher schools.' The first named +train pupils for various trades and crafts, more especially for those +connected with the principal local industries. The course is three years +or thereabouts, following on that of the elementary schools, and there is +generally an entrance examination, but the conditions vary in different +communes. Sometimes the instruction is free, sometimes fees are charged +amounting to a few shillings a year, the cost being borne by the communes, +and in a few towns there are similar schools for girls who have passed +through the elementary schools. The technical classes for girls cover such +subjects as fancy-work, drawing and painting of a utilitarian character, +and sometimes book keeping and dress-making. Most of them are free, but +for some special subjects a small payment is required. Drawing seems to be +a favourite subject, and in most of these technical schools there are +classes for mechanical drawing as well as for some kind of artistic work +connected with industry. In addition there are numerous art schools, some +of them being devoted to the encouragement of fine art, while in others +the object kept in view is the application of art to industry.</p> + +<p>The 'Burgher night schools,' like the technical schools, are supported by +the communes in which they are situated. There are about forty of them in +all, and most of them are very well attended, in some cases the regular +students, who are all working men and women, number several hundreds. The +instruction is similar to that given in the technical schools, that is to +say, it is chiefly practical, and local industries receive special +attention. Formerly there were day schools also for working men, on the +same lines as these, but they were not a success, and the technical +schools have taken their place.</p> + +<p>Of a higher class, but still included in the term 'middelbaar onderwijs,' +is the 'modern' education of the 'higher burgher' schools. The majority of +these schools were founded by the communes, the rest by the State, but +internally they are ail alike, and all are inspected by commissioners +appointed by the Government for the purpose. Pupils enter at twelve years +of age, and must pass an entrance examination, which, like nearly every +examination in Holland, is a Government affair. Having passed this, they +attend school for five years, as a rule, but at some of these institutions +the course lasts only three years. In some degree the 'higher burgher' +schools correspond to the modern side of an English school: at least the +subjects are much the same, embracing mathematlcs, natural science, modern +languages and commercial subjects, and no Latin or Greek is taught. The +education is wholly modern and practical, with the object of preparing +pupils for commercial life. There are 'higher burgher' schools for girls +as well as for boys, at which nearly the same education is provided.</p> + +<p>A great advantage of these schools is that they are very cheap; at the +most expensive the yearly fees amount to a little more than thirty pounds, +but at the majority they only come to four or five. To teach in such +schools as these one must have a diploma or a University degree. A +separate diploma is necessary for each subject, and the examination is not +easy. Even a foreigner who wishes to teach his own language must pass the +same examination as a Dutchman. No difference is made between the masters +at the boys' schools and the ladies who teach the girls; exactly the same +diplomas are required in both cases.</p> + +<p>The 'Gymnasia,' to which allusion has been made, are classical schools, +which prepare boys for the Universities. The age of entry is the same as +at the modern schools, twelve; but the course is longer, as a rule +covering six years instead of five, and at the end of this course comes a +Government examination, the passing of which is a necessary preliminary +to a University degree. The 'Gymnasia' were founded by an Act of +Parliament, but are supported by the communes, which in this case are the +larger towns, but they are assisted, as a rule, by a Government grant. The +fees are very small, only about, £8 a year.</p> + +<p>There are a few private and endowed schools, which may send up candidates +for the same examinations as are taken by the pupils of the State schools, +and it is among these that we find the only boarding schools in the +country. Some of these have certain privileges; for instance, the +headmaster may engage assistants who do not hold diplomas, which makes it +easier for him to get native teachers for modern languages; but in the +State schools proper, the selection of undermasters does not rest with the +head, or director, as he is called, at all. Foreign teachers are not very +plentiful, as the diplomas are not easy to get, and a native, who has to +relearn much of his own language from a Dutch point of view, has little or +no advantage over a Dutchman in the examinations.</p> + +<p>No sketch of Dutch schools would be complete without some reference to the +way in which modern languages are studied, for this is the most striking +feature in the national education, and is of great importance when we are +considering the national life and character of Holland. Former generations +of Dutchmen won a place among the 'learned nations' by their knowledge of +the classical languages; and their descendants seem to have inherited the +gift of tongues, but make a more practical use of it. French, German, +English, and Dutch, which go by the name of 'de vier Talen,' or 'the four +languages,' have taken the place of Greek and Latin. In the 'Gymnasia' +every pupil learns to speak them as a matter of course, and in the 'higher +burgher' schools the same languages receive special attention, with a view +to commercial correspondence. Even in the upper elementary schools, boys +and girls are taught some or all of them. A boy entering one of the higher +schools at the age of twelve or thirteen generally has some knowledge of, +at least, one foreign language, acquired either at an elementary school, +or at home, and he is never shy of displaying that knowledge. If his +parents are well off, he has probably learned to speak French or English +in the nursery, and it sometimes happens that he even speaks Dutch with a +French or an English accent, having been brought up on the foreign +language and acquired his native longue later. German as a rule is not +begun so soon, the idea being that its resemblance to Dutch makes it +easier, which is no doubt true to a certain extent. The result, however, +is very often that the easiest language of the three is the one least +correctly spoken.</p> + +<p>As in all Continental countries, there is nothing in Holland corresponding +to the English public school System. The 'Gymnasia' prepare boys for the +Universities, and the 'higher burgher' schools train them for commercial +life and some professions, somewhat in the same way as English modern +schools, but there the resemblance ends. As a rule, a Dutch boy's school +life is limited to the hours he spends at lessons; the rest of the day +belongs rather to home life. There are a few boarding schools in Holland, +but the life in such schools in the two countries is different in almost +every respect. The size of the schools may have something to do with this, +though by itself it is not enough to account for the difference. A Dutch +head-master once drew my attention to the lack of tradition in his own and +other schools in the country, and expressed a hope that time might work a +change. At present there is little sign of such a change. Tradition has +hardly had time to grow up yet, for few of the existing schools are much +more than twenty years old, and its growth is retarded by the small +numbers, which make any widespread freemasonry among old boys impossible. +But there is another and more serious obstacle. The uniform control which +the Government exercises over ail schools alike, State, endowed, or +private, whatever advantages it may have, certainly hinders the +development of that individuality which makes 'the old school,' to many an +English boy, something more than a place where he had lessons to do and +was prepared for examinations.</p> + +<p>A rough sketch of the inside of a Dutch school will doubtless be of +interest. One of the few endowed schools in Holland may be taken as fairly +typical of its class, but not of the State schools, though it competes +with these and combines the classical and modern courses. It lies in the +country, near a small village, and in this respect also differs from the +'Gymnasia' and 'higher burgher' schools, which are ail situated in the +larger towns. + +One of the first things which attracts notice is the large number of +masters. It seems at first that there are hardly enough boys to go round. +This is due to the law, which requires that every master must be qualified +to teach his particular subject either by a University degree or by an +equivalent diploma. Few hold more than two diplomas, and consequently much +of the teaching is done by men who visit this and other schools two or +three times a week. In this particular foundation the three resident +masters are foreigners, but such an arrangement is exceptional. Classes +seldom include more than half a dozen boys, and very often pupils are +taken singly, and therefore each boy receives a good deal of individual +attention. Such a school is divided into six forms or classes, but not +for teaching purposes; the day's work is differently arranged for each +boy, and these classes merely record the results of the last examination. +Some of the lessons last for an hour, but the rest are only three quarters +of an hour long; they make up in number, however, what they lack in +length, amounting to about nine and a half hours a day. Owing to the time +being so much broken up, it may be doubted whether the amount of work done +is any greater here than in an average English school where the aggregate +of working hours is considerably less. Amongst our Dutch friends, however, +and there may be others who share their opinion, the general belief is +that English schoolboys learn very little except athletics.</p> + +<p>With regard to sports and pastimes, these are the only schools in which +any interest is taken or encouragement given therein. Football is played +here on most half-holidays during the winter, and sometimes on Sunday, and +occasionally its place is taken by hockey. It must be admitted that the +standard of play is not very high in either game, though many of the boys +work hard and, with better opportunities, might develop into high-class +players; but as there are only about thirty boys in the school, +competition for places in the teams is not very keen. Rowing has lately +been introduced, not to the advantage of the football eleven. It may be +remarked, by the way, that only Association football is played in Holland; +the Rugby game is strictly barred by head-masters and parents as too +dangerous. Attempts have been made to introduce cricket, but the game +meets with little encouragement. There is a lawn-tennis court, however, +which is constantly in use during the summer term. Bicycling is very +popular, not only here, but in Holland generally; in fact, most of the +boys seem to prefer this form of exercise to any of the games which have +been mentioned.</p> + +<p>Whether at work or play, all the boys are under the constant supervision +of one or other of the resident masters, and the head is not far off. A +few of the seniors are allowed to go outside the grounds when they please, +but the rest may only go out under the charge of a master. In spite of +this apparently strict supervision, however, there is not much real +discipline. Corporal punishment is not allowed; both public opinion and +the law of the land are against it. Other punishments, such as detention +and impositions, are ineffectual, and are generally regarded by the +culprit as unjustly interfering with his liberty. Consequently the masters +have not much hold over the boys, who might, if they chose, perpetrate +endless mischief without fear of painful consequences so long as they did +nothing to warrant expulsion; but the young Hollander does not appear to +have much enterprise in that direction. Perhaps he is sometimes kept out +of mischief by his devotion to the fragrant weed, for he generally learns +to smoke at a tender age, with his parents' consent, and no exception is +taken to his cigar except during lessons; but it is certainly startling to +see the boys smoking while playing their games, as well as on all other +possible occasions.</p> + +<p>A large proportion of the boys at the 'Gymnasia,' perhaps the majority of +them, pass on to the Universities, some to qualify for the learned +professions, others because it is the fashion in Holland as in other +countries for young men who have no intention of following any profession +to spend a few years at a University in search of pleasure and experience; +but the experience in this case is peculiar and unique.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_14"></a>Chapter XIV</h1> + +<h2>The Universities</h2> + + + +<p>As to the Universities themselves, it is not necessary to consider them +separately, as all four of them, Leyden, Groningen, Utrecht and Amsterdam, +are alike in constitution. They are not residential, there are no +beautiful buildings, there are no rival colleges, no tutors or proctors, +and no 'gate;' nor are they independent corporations like Oxford and +Cambridge and Durham, for, though they retain some outward forms which +recall a former independence, they are now maintained and managed entirely +by the State, which pays the professors and provides the necessary +buildings. The subjects to be taught and the examinations to be held in +the various faculties are laid down by statute. Consequently the +Universities show the same want of individuality as the schools, and, to +an outsider at least, there seems to be nothing of the 'Alma Mater' about +them under the present <i>régime,</i> and no real ground for preferring any one +of them to the others. At the same time, fathers usually send their sons +to the Universities at which they themselves have studied, except when +they and the professors happen to hold very different political opinions, +but such a custom may be due as much to the national love of order and +regularity as to any real attachment to a particular University. As to +the political opinions of professors, their influence on the students +cannot be very great in the majority of cases, being limited to the effect +produced by lectures, for there is no social intercourse between teacher +and taught. The professors, though very learned men, do not enjoy any +great social standing, and the title does not carry with it anything like +the same rank as in some other countries.</p> + +<p>The system on which these Universities work may be a sound and logical one +so far as it goes, and more up-to-date than the English residential +system, which its enemies deride as mediæval and monastic; but it is a +cast iron system, designed with the object of preparing men for +examinations, and one which does nothing to discover promising scholars or +to encourage original work and research among those who have taken their +degrees, or, according to the Dutch phrase, have gained their 'promotion'. +There are no scholarships, nor anything that might serve the same purpose, +though some such institution could hardly find a more favourable soil than +that of Holland. Instruction of a very learned and thorough character is +offered to those who will and can receive it, and that is all. The classes +are open to all who pay the necessary fees, which are trifling, though the +degree of Doctor may only be granted to those who have passed the +'Gymnasium' final or an equivalent examination, and, provided he makes +these payments, a student is free to do as he pleases, so far as his +University is concerned.</p> + +<p>Discipline there is none, except in very rare cases, when the law provides +for the expulsion of offenders; only theological candidates are indirectly +restrained from undue levity by having to get a certificate of good +conduct at the end of their course. There is no chapel to keep, for the +student's religion and morals are entirely his own concern; there are no +'collections,' for if a man does not choose to read he injures no one but +himself by his idleness; and there is no Vice-Chancellor's Court, for in +theory students are on the same footing as other people before the law, +though in practice the police seldom interfere with them more than they +can help. It is not surprising that young men not long from school should +sometimes abuse such exceptional freedom, but their ideas of enjoyment are +rather strange in foreign eyes. One of their favourite amusements seems to +be driving about the town and neighbourhood in open carriages. On special +occasions all the members of a club turn out, wearing little round caps of +their club colours, and accompanied as likely as not by a band, and drive +off in a procession to some neighbouring town, where they dine; in the +night or next morning they return, all uproariously drunk, singing and +shouting, waving flags and flinging empty wine-bottles about the road. I +do not wish to imply that all Dutch students behave in this way, but such +exhibitions are unfortunately not uncommon, and show to what lengths +'freedom' is permitted to go.</p> + +<p>There is a limit, however, even to the liberty of students, as appears +from the following anecdote. One of these young men gave a wine-party in +his lodgings, and some one proposed, by way of a lark, to wake up a young +woman who lived in the house opposite, and fetch her out of bed, so a +rocket was produced and fired through the open window. The bombardment had +the desired effect, but it also set the house on fire, and the joker's +father was called on to make good the damage. Then the police took the +matter up, and the culprit got several weeks' imprisonment for arson, +after which he returned to the University and resumed his interrupted +studies. There was no question of rustication, as the court simply +inflicted the penalty laid down in the Code, and there was no other +authority that had power to interfere in the matter at all.</p> + +<p>As may well be imagined, students are not generally popular with the +townsfolk, who resent the unequal treatment of the two classes, not +because they wish for the same measure of license, but because anything +like rowdiness contrasts strongly with their own habits; and extravagance, +not an uncommon failing among students in Holland or elsewhere, is +absolutely repugnant to the average Dutch citizen. This feeling of +resentment seems to be growing, and has already had some slight effect +upon the civil authorities; if the students find some day that they have +lost their privileged position, they will have only themselves to thank, +and certainly the change will do them no harm.</p> + +<p>But though a certain number go to the Universities merely to amuse +themselves or to be in the fashion, most of them work well, even if they +do not attend lectures regularly all through their course. In some +faculties private coaching offers a quicker and easier way to 'promotion' +than the more orthodox one through the class-rooms. No doubt there are +some who are in no hurry to leave the attractions of student life, but not +many cling to them so persistently as a certain Dutch student, to whom a +relative bequeathed a liberal allowance, to be paid him as long as he was +studying for his degree. He became known as 'the eternal student,' to the +great wrath of the heirs who waited for the reversion of his legacy. For +most men the ordinary course is long enough, for it averages perhaps six +or seven years, though there is no fixed time, and candidates may take the +examinations as soon as they please. The nominal course--that is, the time +over which the lectures extend--varies in the different faculties, from +four years in law to seven or eight in medicine, but very few men manage, +or attempt, to take a degree in law in four years. The other faculties are +theology, science, including mathematics, and literature and philosophy.</p> + +<p>The degree of Doctor is given in these five faculties, and to obtain it +two examinations must be passed, the candidate's and the doctoral. After +passing the latter a student bears the title <i>doctorandus</i> until he has +written a book or thesis and defended it <i>viva voce</i> before the +examiners. He is then 'promoted' to the degree, a ceremony which +generally entails, indirectly, a certain amount of expense. It appears to +be the correct thing for the newly-made doctor to drive round in state, +adorned with the colours of his club and attended by friends gorgeously +disguised as lacqueys, and leave copies of his book at the houses of the +professors and his club fellows, after which he, of course, celebrates +the occasion in the invariable Dutch fashion, with a dinner. Many +students, however, are not qualified to try for a degree, not having been +through the 'Gymnasia,' and others do not wish to do so. Sometimes the +candidate's examination qualifies one to practise a profession, and is +open to all, in other cases, in the faculty of medicine for example, it +gives no qualification, and is only open to candidates for the degree, +but then there is another, a 'professional' examination, for those who do +not aim at the ornamental title.</p> + +<p>The cost of living at the Universities naturally depends very much on the +student's tastes and habits. He pays to the University only 200 florins +(<i>£16 13s 4d</i>) a year for four years, after which he may attend lectures +free of charge, so the minimum annual expenditure is small; but it should +be borne in mind that the course is about twice as long as in England. A +good many students live with their families, which is cheaper than living +in lodgings; and as nearly all classes are represented, there is a +considerable difference in their standards of life. Some are certainly +extravagant, as in all Universities, which tends to raise prices, but, on +the other hand, many of them are men whose parents can ill afford the +expense, but are tempted by the value which attaches to a University +career in Holland, and these bring the average down. Between these two +extremes there are plenty who do very well on £150 or so a year, and £200 +is probably considered a sufficiently liberal allowance by parents who +could easily afford a larger sum. Even the students' corps need not lead +to any great expense, as it consists of a number of minor clubs, and +nearly every one joins it, so that the pace is not always the same; +students who wish to keep their expenses down naturally join with friends +who are similarly situated, leaving the more extravagant clubs to the +young bloods who have plenty of money to spare.</p> + +<p>The corps is the only tie which holds the students together where there +are no colleges, and athletics play but a very small part. Each University +has its corps, to which all the students belong except a few who take no +part in the typical student life, and are known as the 'boeven,' or +'knaves.' A Rector and Senate are elected annually from among the members +of four or five years' standing to manage the affairs of the corps. In +order to become a member, a freshman, or 'green,' as he is called in +Holland, has to go through a rather trying initiation, which lasts for +three or four weeks. Having given in his name to the Senate, he must call +on the members of the corps and ask them to sign their names in a book, +which is inspected by the Senate from time to time, and at each visit he +comes in for a good deal of 'ragging,' for, as he may not go away until +he has obtained his host's signature, he is completely at the mercy of his +tormentors. If he does not obey their orders implicitly and give any +information they may require about his private affairs, he is likely to +have a bad time, but as long as he is duly submissive he is generally let +off with a little harmless fooling. One 'green,' a shy and retiring youth, +who did not at all relish the impertinent inquiries which were made into +his morals and family history, was made to stand at the window and give a +full and particular account of himself to the passers-by, with interesting +details supplied by the company. Sometimes, however, the joking is more +brutal and less amusing. For instance, as a punishment for shirking the +bottle, the victim was compelled to kneel on the floor with a funnel in +his mouth, while his tormentors poured libations down his throat.</p> + +<p>When the 'green time' is over the new members of the corps are installed +by the Rector, and drive round the town in procession, finishing up, of +course, with a club dinner. The corps has its head-quarters in the +Students' Club, which corresponds more or less to the 'Union' at an +English University, though differing from the latter in two important +respects: first, there are no debates, and secondly, the members are +exclusively students, for, as I have already noticed, there is no social +intercourse between the professors and their pupils. The reading-rooms at +the club are a favourite lounge of a great many of the students, but it +must be admitted that the literature supplied there is not always of a +very wholesome kind, seeing that it includes 'realism' of the most daring +description, with illustrations to match, and obscene Parisian comic +papers. Every member of the corps also belongs to one of the minor clubs +of which it is made up, and which are apparently nothing more than +messes, very often with only a dozen members, or less.</p> + +<p>A few sport clubs exist, also under the control of the corps, but they do +not play a very prominent part, for the taste for athletic exercises is +confined to a small minority. Considering the small number of players, the +proficiency attained in the exotic games of football and hockey is +surprisingly high. The rowing is even better, and attracts a larger +number, being perhaps more suited to the physical characteristics of the +race than those games for which agility is more necessary than weight and +strength. Boat-races are held annually between the several Universities, +in which the form of the crews is generally very good. If I am not +mistaken, some of the Dutch crews that have rowed at Henley represented +University clubs. The typical student, however, though well enough endowed +with bone and muscle, has no ambition whatever to become an athlete, or to +submit to the fatigue and self-denial of training. Probably the way he +lives and his aversion to athletics, more than the length of his course of +study, account for his elderly appearance, for he is not only obviously +older than the average undergraduate, but begins to look positively +middle-aged both in face and figure almost before he has done growing.</p> + +<p>Before leaving the subject of the students' corps, mention must be made +of the great carnival which each corps holds every five years to +commemorate the foundation of its University. The 'Lustrum-Maskerade,' +which is the chief item in the week of festivities, is a historical +pageant representing some event in the mediæval history of Holland. The +chief actors are chosen from among the wealthiest of the students, and +spare no trouble or expense in preparing their get-up, while the minor +parts are allotted to the various clubs within the corps, each club +representing a company of retainers or men-at-arms in the service of one +of the mock princes or knights. For six days the players retain their +gorgeous costumes and act their parts, even when excursions are made in +the neighbourhood in company with the friends and relatives who come to +join in the commemoration, and the mixture of mediæval and modern +costumes in the streets has a somewhat ludicrous effect. On the first day +the visitors are formally welcomed by the officers of the corps. Former +students of all ages meet their old comrades, and the men of each year, +after dining together, march together to the garden or park where the +reception is held. Anything less like the usual calm and serious +demeanour of these seniors than the way in which they dance and sing +through the town is not to be imagined, for the oldest and most sedate of +them are as wildly and ludicrously enthusiastic as the youngest student; +and their arrival at the reception, with bands of music, skipping about +and roaring student songs like their sons and grandsons, is, to say the +least, comical. But the occasion only comes once in five years, and they +naturally make the most of it.</p> + +<p>The next day the Masquerade takes place, beginning with a procession to +the ground, and is repeated two or three times before huge crowds of +spectators, for the townsmen are as excited as the students and the +relatives, at least on the first two days. Great pains are always taken to +ensure historical correctness in every detail, and the leading parts are +often admirably played, and it must be the unromantic dress of the +lookers-on that spoils the effect and makes one think of a circus. If only +the crowd could be brought into harmony with the masqueraders in the +matter of clothes the illusion might be complete; as it is, one can hardly +imagine for a moment that the knights who charge so bravely down the +lists mean to do one another any serious damage. A tournament is very +often the subject of the pageant, or an important part of it, or sometimes +a challenge and single combat are introduced as a sort of <i>entr'acte</i>. For +the last four days of the feast there is no fixed order of procedure; +balls, concerts, garden-parties, and so on are arranged as may be most +convenient, while the intervals are spent in visits, dinners, and drives. +Not until the end of the week does any student lay aside his gay costume +and resume the more prosaic garments of his own times. All through the +week the influence of the corps, which is the life of the University from +the student's point of view, is manifest in the collective character of +all the festivities, everything being done either by the corps itself or +under its direction. From a comparison of this celebration with 'Commem' +week we can, perhaps, gather a very fair idea of the typical points of +difference between the students of Holland and our own country.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_15"></a>Chapter XV</h1> + +<h2>Art and Letters</h2> + + + +<p>The art of a country is ever in unity with the character of the people. It +reflects their ideas and sentiments; their history is marked in its +progress or decline; and it shows forth the influences that have been at +work in the minds and very life of the nation from which it springs. If +this is true of all countries, it is nowhere so visibly true as in +Holland. There art underwent the most decided changes during the various +periods of war and armed peace through which the little country passed. It +may truly be said that 'the first smile of the young Republic was art, for +it was only after the revolt of the Dutch against the Spanish ... that +painting reached a high grade of perfection.' One is accustomed to take it +for granted too readily that the glory of Dutch art lies in the past; that +the works and fame of a Van Eyck, a Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and +Ruysdael sum up Holland's contribution to the art of the world, and that +this chapter of its history, like the chapters which deal with its +maritime supremacy, its industrial greatness, and its struggles for +liberty, is closed for ever. Nothing could be farther from the fact. Dutch +art was never more virile, more original, more self-conscious than to-day, +when it is represented by a band of men whose genius and enthusiasm +recall the great names of the past. Professer Richard Muther has well +said, in his 'History of Modern Painting,' that, 'so far from stagnating, +Dutch art is now as fresh and varied as in the old days of its glory.'</p> + +<p>The Dutch painters of the present day include, indeed, quite a multitude +of men of the very first rank, and some of them, like the three brothers +Maris, are unexcelled. Jacob Maris, who died so recently as 1890, was +known for his splendid landscapes, and still more for his town pictures +and beach scenes. Willem Maris has a partiality for meadows in which +cattle are browsing in tranquil content. Thys Maris has a very different +style. He paints grey and misty figures and landscapes all hazy and +scarcely visible. His love of the obscure and the suggestive led to the +common refusal of his portraits by patrons, who complained that they +lacked distinctness. No painter, however, commands such large prices as +he, and from £2000 to £3000 is no rare figure for his canvases.</p> + +<p>H. W. Mesdag is Holland's most celebrated sea painter. He pictures the +ever rolling ocean with marvellous power, and carries the song of the +waves and the cry of the wild sea birds into his great paintings, which +speak to one of the life and toil of the fishermen, the never weary +waters, and the ever varying aspects of sea and sky. In this domain he is +unrivalled, and he has certainly done some magnificent work. Mesdag has an +exhibition of his own works every Sunday morning in his studio at The +Hague, and any one who wishes is allowed to visit it, while for the +general public's benefit there is the Mesdag Panorama in the same town.</p> + +<p>Mauve, who died in 1887, was best known for his pastoral scenes. His +pictures of sheep on the moors and fens recall pleasant memories of +summer days and sunny hours.</p> + +<p>Josef Israels went largely to the life of fishermen for his motives, +though one of his best-known works is that noble one, 'David before Saul.'</p> + +<p>Bosboom one naturally associates with church interiors, wonderfully well +done; Blommers, Artz, and Bles likewise paint interiors, the first two +choosing their subjects by preference from the houses of the working +classes, while Bles confines himself to the dwellings of the wealthy.</p> + +<p>Bisschop is unquestionably the best of the Dutch portrait-painters, though +his still life is considered even more artistic than his portraits. The +foremost of the lady portrait and figure painters is Therese Schwartze, +who, like Josselin de Jong, often takes Queen Wilhelmina as a grateful +subject for her brush.</p> + +<p>The foregoing may be regarded as painters of the old school, though every +one has so much originality as to be virtually the initiator of a distinct +direction. The newer schools are represented by men like J. Toorop, +Voerman, Verster, Camerlingh Onnes, Bauer, and Hoytema.</p> + +<p>Toorop is the well-known symbolist. His style is Oriental rather than +Dutch, and his topics for the most part are mystical in character. He is +famous also for his decorative art. This many-sided man is probably the +greatest artist soul in Holland. He is expert in almost every domain of +art. Etching, pastel and water-colour drawing, oil-painting, wood-cutting, +lithography, working in silver, copper, and brass, and modelling in clay, +belong equally to his accomplishments, though as a painter he is, of +course, best known.</p> + +<p>Voerman, once known for his minutely painted flowers, is now a pronounced +landscape painter. His cloud studies are marvellous, though perhaps the +landscape colours are somewhat hard and overdone in the effort to produce +the desired effects. He paints, as a rule, the rolling cumulus, and is one +of the first of the younger artists.</p> + +<p>Verster is known best for his impressionist way of painting flowers in +colour patches, though he has now taken to the minute and mystical method +of representing them.</p> + +<p>Onnes, like Toorop, is a decided mystic, and there is a vein of mysticism +in all his paintings. He is famous for his light effects in glass and +pottery, and has especially a wonderful knack of painting choirs in +churches ail in a dreamy light.</p> + +<p>Bauer is better known, perhaps, by his drawings and etchings than by his +paintings. He paints with striking beauty old churches, temples, and +mosques, generally the exteriors, and the effect of his minute work is +wonderful. Bauer is also one of the finest of Dutch decorative artists.</p> + +<p>Hoytema is known for his illustrations. Animal life is his <i>forte</i>, +especially owls and monkeys.</p> + +<p>Among other younger painters who, though not yet of European reputation, +may still be classed with many of the older generation, are Jan Veth and +H. Haverman, both of whom excel in portraits. The lady artists who have +best held their own with the stronger sex include, in addition to those +named, Mme Bilders van Bosse, who paints woods and leafy groves with +striking power; and the late Mme. Vogels-Roozeboom, who found her +inspiration in the flora of Nature. In her day (she died in 1894) she was +the first of floral painters, and whenever she raised her brush the finest +of flowers rose up as at the touch of a magic wand. Second to her, though +not so well known by far, came Mlle W. van der Sande Bakhuizen.</p> + +<p>The Dutch are not only a nation of painters, but a nation of +picture-lovers, though in Holland, as in other countries, one not seldom +sees upon walls from which better would be expected tawdry art, about +which all that can be said is that it was bought cheap. The country +possesses a number of good public galleries, and much is done in this way +and by the frequent exhibition of paintings to foster the love of the +artistic. The principal exhibitions are those of the Pulchri Studio and +the Kunst-kring (Art Circle) at The Hague, and the 'Arti et Amicitia' at +Rotterdam. To become a working member of the Pulchri Studio is counted a +great honour, for the artists who are on the committee are very +particular as to whom they admit into their circle, and they ruthlessly +blackball any one who is at all 'amateurish' or who does not come up to +their high standard. For this reason it is that so many of the younger +artists give exhibitions of their own works as the only way of getting +them at all known.</p> + +<p>Sculpture is not much practised in Holland. It would seem to be an art +belonging almost entirely to Southern climes, although there was a time +when the Dutch modelled busts and heads from snow. The monument of Piet +Hein was originally made of snow, and so much did it take the fancy of the +people of Delftshaven, the place of his birth, that they had a stone +monument erected for him on the place where the one of snow had stood. It +is only recently, however, that sculpture has been re-introduced into +Holland as a fine art, and those artists who have taken it up need hardly +fear competition with their brethren of other Continental countries, for +their names are already on every tongue. The first amongst those who have +shown real power is Pier Pander, the cripple son of a Frisian mat-plaiter, +who came over from Rome (where he had gone to complete his studies) at +the special invitation of the Queen to model a bust of the Prince Consort, +Duke Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Other notable sculptors are Van +Mattos, Ode, Bart de Hove, and Van Wyck.</p> + +<p>There is also another art which is in considerable vogue, and in which +much good work has been done--that of wood-carving. In this the painter +and illustrator Hoytema has shown considerable skill. Needless to say, +Holland is also as famous now as ever for its pottery. Delft ware was ever +the fame of the Dutch nation, though the Rosenbach and Gouda pottery is +now gaining approval. It may be doubted, however, whether the love for the +latter is altogether without affectation. One is inclined to believe that +many of its admirers are enthusiastic to order. They admire because the +leading authorities assure them it is their duty so to do.</p> + +<p>The Netherlands, though very limited in area and small in population, can +also boast of having contributed much that is excellent to the literature +of the world, and in its roll of famous literary men are to be found names +which would redeem any country from the charge of intellectual barrenness. +Spinoza, Erasmus, and Hugo de Groot (Grotius), to name no others, form a +trio whose influence upon the thought of the world, and upon the movements +which make for human progress, has been beyond estimation, and which still +belongs to-day to the imperishable inheritance of the race.</p> + +<p>As illustrating the world-wide fame of Hugo de Groot it is interesting to +note that on the occasion of the Peace Conference held at The Hague in +1899 the American representatives invited all their fellow-delegates to +Delft, and there, in the church of his burial, papers were read in which +the claim of the great thinker to perpetual honour was brought to the +memories of the assembled spokesmen of the civilized world.</p> + +<p>It is with the modern literature and literary movements of Holland, +however, that these pages must concern themselves, and for practical +purposes we may confine ourselves principally to the latter part of the +completed century. For the early part of the nineteenth century was by no +means prolific in literary achievement, and does not boast of many great +names, if one disregards the writers whose lives linked that century with +its predecessor, like Betjen Wolff and Agatha Deken. When, in 1814-15, +Holland again became a separate kingdom, that important event failed to +mark a new era in Dutch literature. Strange to say, though the political +changes of the time powerfully influenced the sister arts of music and +painting, which show strong traces of the transition of that crisis in the +nation's history, upon literature they had no effect whatever. Before 1840 +no very brilliant writers came to the front, though the period was not +without notable names, such as Willem Bilderdijk, Hendrik C. Tollens, and +Isaac da Costa, all of whom possessed a considerable vogue. Bilderdijk's +chief claim to fame is the fact that he wrote over 300,000 lines of verse, +and regarded himself as the superior of Shakespeare; Tollens had a name +for rare patriotism, and wrote many fine historical poems and ballads; +while Da Costa, who was a converted Jew, had to the last, in spite of a +considerable popularity as a poet, to contend with the oftentimes fatal +shafts of ridicule.</p> + +<p>A new period opened, however, about 1840, in the <i>Gids</i> movement promoted +by E.J. Potgieter and R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink, who were editors of +the <i>Gids</i> and the severest of literary critics. The <i>Gids</i> was the Dutch +equivalent of the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> under Jeffrey, and its criticisms +were so much dreaded by the nervous Dutch author of the day that the +magazine received the name of 'The Blue Executioner,' blue being the +colour of its cover. If, however, Potgieter and Bakhuizen were unsparing +in the use of the tomahawk, the service which they rendered to Dutch +letters by their drastic treatment of crude and immature work was healthy +and lasting in influence, for it undoubtedly raised the tone and standard +of literary work, both in that day and for a long time to come, and so +helped to establish modern Dutch literature on a firm basis. Perhaps the +foremost figure in the literary revival which followed was Conrad Busken +Huet, unquestionably the greatest Dutch critic of the last century, whose +book 'Literary Criticisms and Fancies,' which contains a discriminating +review of all writers from Bilderdijk forward, is essential to a thorough +study of Dutch literature during the nineteenth century. Huet also +emancipated literature from the orthodoxy in thought which had +characterized the earlier Dutch writers, especially by his novel +'Lidewyde.'</p> + +<p>No novelist has more truly reflected the old fashioned ideas and simple +home life of Holland than Nicholas Beets, who still lives and even writes +occasionally, though almost a nonagenarian. His 'Camera Obscura,' which +has been translated into English, entitles Beets to be recognized as the +Dickens of Holland, and his two novels, 'De Familie Stastoc' and 'De +Familie Kegge,' are familiar to every Dutchman. The historical novelists, +Jacob van Lennep and Mrs. Bosboom Toussaint, should not be overlooked.</p> + +<p>One of the foremost Dutch poets of the century is Petrus Augustus de +Génestet. Although he is not free from rhetoric, and frequently uses old +and worn-out similes, his general view of things is wider and his feeling +deeper than those of any of his contemporaries in verse. The contrast, for +example, between him and Carel Vosmaer, though they belong to the same +period, is very striking, for while the poetry of Génestet is full of +feeling and ideality, that of Vosmaer is unemotional; and though he +dresses his thoughts in beautiful words, the impression left upon the mind +after reading his poetry is that which might be left after looking at a +gracefully modelled piece of marble--it is fine as art, but cold and dead, +and so awakens no responsive sympathy in the mind of the beholder.</p> + +<p>But the greatest of modern Dutch authors, and the one who may be termed +the forerunner of the renaissance of 1880, was E. Douwes Dekker, who died +thirteen years ago. Dekker had an eventful career. He went to the Dutch +Indies at the age of twenty-one, and there spent some seventeen years in +official life, gradually rising to the position of Assistant Resident of +Lebac. While occupying that office his eyes were opened to the defective +System of government existing in the Colonies, and the abuses to which the +natives were subjected. He tried to interest the higher officials on +behalf of the subject races, but as all his endeavours proved unavailing +he became disheartened, and, resigning his post, returned to Holland with +the object of pleading in Government circles at home the cause which he +had taken so deeply to heart. As a deaf ear was still turned to all his +entreaties he decided, as a last resource, to appeal for a hearing at the +bar of public opinion. He entered literature, and wrote the stirring story +'Max Havelaar,' in which he gave voice to the wrongs of the natives and +the callous injustices perpetrated by the Colonial authorities. The book +made a great sensation, and has unquestionably had very beneficial results +in opening the public's eyes to some of the more glaring defects of +Colonial administration.</p> + +<p>In 1880 Dutch literature entered upon an entirely new phase. The chief +authors of the movement then begun were Lodewryk van Deyssel, Albert +Verwey, and Willem Kloos, who in the monthly magazine, <i>De Nieuwe Gids</i>, +exercised by their trenchant criticisms the same beneficial and +restraining influence upon the literature of the day as Potgieter and +Bakhuizen did forty years before. The columns of the <i>Nieuwe Gids</i> were +only opened to the very best of Dutch authors, and any works not coming up +to the editors' high ideas of literary excellence were unmercifully +'slated' by these competent critics. Independence was the prominent +characteristic of the authors of the period. They shook themselves free +from the old thoughts and similes, and created new paths, in which their +minds found freer expression. The new thoughts demanded new words, hence +came about the practice of word-combination, which was in direct defiance +of the conservative canons of literary style which had hitherto prevailed, +so that nowadays almost every author adds a new vocabulary of his own to +the Dutch language, so enhancing the charm of his own writings and adding +to the literary wealth of the nation in general.</p> + +<p>The poetess whom Holland to-day most delights to honour is Helena Lapidoth +Swarth, whose works increase in worth and beauty every year. Her command +of the Dutch language and her power of wresting from it literary resources +which are unattainable by any other writer have made her the admiration of +all critics of penetration. Louis Couperas is also another living poet of +mark, who, however, does not confine himself to formal versification, for +his prose is also poetry. His best works are 'Elme Vere,' the first book +he wrote, and the characters in which are said to have been all taken from +life, and his novels 'Majesty' and 'Universal Peace,' which have gained +for him a European reputation, for they have been translated into most +modern languages.</p> + +<p>Women authors who have written works with a special tendency are Cornelie +Huygens, who is known particularly by her novel 'Barthold Maryan;' Mrs. +Goekoop de Jong, who champions the cause of women's rights; and Anna de +Savornin Lohman, who, in a striking book entitled, 'Why question any +longer?' has written very bitterly against the political conditions of the +circle of society in which she moves.</p> + +<p>While the authors of the present day are beneficially leavening popular +opinion by inculcating higher and healthier sentiments, there are also +authors in Holland, as elsewhere, who debase good metal, and write from a +purely material standpoint. To this class of authors belong Marcellus +Emants and Frans Netcher.</p> + +<p>Of Dutch dramatic writers, Herman Heyermans is one of the most noteworthy, +and some of his plays have been translated into French, and produced in +Paris theatres.</p> + +<p>It is a great drawback to literary effort in Holland that the <i>honoraria</i> +paid to authors are so low that most writers who happen not to be +pecuniarily independent--and they are the majority--are unable to make a +tolerable subsistence at home by the pen alone, and are obliged to +contribute to foreign publications, and some even resort to teaching. Many +Dutch authors of high rank write anonymously in English, French, and +German magazines, and probably earn far more in that way than by their +contributions to Dutch ephemeral literature, for the ordinary fee for a +sheet of three thousand words--which is the average length of a printed +sheet in a Dutch magazine--is only forty francs.</p> + +<p>The pity is that Dutch literature itself is not known as well as it +deserves to be, for any one who takes the trouble to master the Dutch +language will find himself well repaid by the treasures of thought which +are contained in the modern authors of Holland.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_16"></a>Chapter XVI</h1> + +<h2>The Dutch as Readers</h2> + + + +<p>Although printing was not invented in Holland, the nation would not have +been unworthy of that honour, for there is a widespread culture of the +book among all classes of the population, and the newspaper and periodical +press makes further a very large contribution to its intellectual food. +Nearly two thousand booksellers and publishers are engaged in the task of +bringing within easy reach of their customers everything they wish to +read. It is no unusual thing to find a decently equipped retail bookshop +in quite unimportant townlets, and even in villages. By an admirable +arrangement every publisher sends parcels of books for the various +retailers all over the country to one central house in Amsterdam--'het +Bestelhuis voor den Boekhandel' (the Booksellers' Collecting and +Distributing Office). In this establishment the publishers' parcels are +opened, and all books sent by the various publishers for one retailer are +packed together and forwarded to him, by rail, steamer, or other cheap +mode of conveyance. In consequence, any doctor, clergyman, or schoolmaster +can receive a penny or twopenny pamphlet in his out-of-the-way home, as +well as any book or periodical from London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, etc., +within a remarkably short time, without trouble, and without extra +expense in postage, by simply applying to the local bookseller.</p> + +<p>The Dutch are very cosmopolitan in their reading. Many children of the +superior working classes learn French at the primary schools; most +children of the middle class pick up English and German as well at the +secondary schools, and a large proportion of them are able to talk in +these three foreign languages; and as opportunities for intercourse are +not over-abundant in the smaller towns, they keep up their knowledge of +these languages by reading. Indeed, the five millions of Dutchmen are, +relatively, the largest buyers of foreign literature in Europe. The +translator, however, comes to the rescue of those who succeed in +forgetting so much of their foreign languages that they find reading them +a very mitigated enjoyment. This question of translation is rather a sore +point in the relations between Dutch and foreign authors and publishers. +The pecuniary injury done to foreign authors, however, is very slight, +while in reputation they have benefited; for if Dutch private libraries +are not without their Shakespeare, Motley, Macaulay, Dickens, Thackeray, +Kingsley, Browning, not to mention French and German classics, this is +mainly due to the fact that the parents of the present generation had the +opportunity of buying Dutch translations, and explained to their children +the value and the beauty of these works.</p> + +<p>Moreover, most authors and publishers in foreign countries, using +languages with world-wide circulation, are apt to miscalculate the profits +made by Dutch publishers, with their very limited market and limited sale. +A royalty of £5 for the right of translating some novel would be regarded +as a contemptibly small sum in the English book world, but £5 in Dutch +currency presses heavily on the budget of a Dutch translation, of which +only some hundred or so copies can be sold at a retail price of not quite +five shillings, and is an almost prohibitive price to pay for the +copyright of a novel which is only used as the <i>feuilleton</i> of a local +paper with an edition of under a thousand copies a week. As a fact, many +Dutch publishers pay royalties to their foreign colleagues as soon as the +publication is important enough to bear the expense; but the majority +clearly will only give up their ancient 'right' of free translation, and +agree to join the Berne Convention, if a practicable way can be found out +of the financial difficulty. For the present, then, the Dutch are +cosmopolitan readers, direct or indirect. In the average bookseller's shop +one finds, of course, a majority of novels--novels of all sorts and +conditions--supplemented by literary essays and poems. In a number of +cases the bookseller is not merely a shopkeeper who deals in printed +matter, and supplies just what his customers ask for, but a man of +education and judgment, who is well able to give his opinion on books and +authors. Often he has read them, though oftener, of course, he is guided +by the leading monthly and weekly magazines and reviews, and by the +publishers' columns of the leading daily newspapers. The bookseller is +thus in many cases the trusted manager and guiding spirit of one or more +'Leesgezelschappen,' or 'Reading Societies.' These societies have a +history. At the end of the eighteenth century they were often political +and even revolutionary bodies. The members or subscribers met to discuss +books, pamphlets, and periodicals, but frequently they discussed by +preference the passages in the books bearing upon political conditions, +and argued improvements which they considered desirable or necessary. As +time passed by, and free institutions became the possession of the Dutch, +the political mission of the Reading Society became exhausted, but the +institution itself survived, and continues to the present day.</p> + +<p>The 'Leesgezelschap' owes its special form to another peculiarity of the +Dutch--their intensely domesticated, home-loving character. Family life, +with its fine and delicate intimacies between husband and wife, between +parent and children, is the most attractive feature of national existence +in the Netherlands. Family life is, indeed, the centre from which the +national virtues emanate, because there the individual members educate +each other in the practice of personal virtues. The Dutchman is not +constitutionally reserved and shy; he knows how to live a full, strong, +public life; he never shrinks from civic duties and social intercourse; +but his love of home life takes the first place after his passion for +liberty and independence. Club life in Holland is insignificant, and few +clubs even attempt to create a substitute for home life; they are merely +used for friendly intercourse for an hour or so every day, and as +better-class restaurants. A Dutchman prefers to do his reading at home, in +the domestic circle, with the members of his family, or in his study if he +follows some scientific occupation, and his 'Leesgezelschap' affords him +the opportunity of doing this. There are military, theological, +educational, philological, and all sorts of scientific reading societies, +besides those for general literature. They work on the co-operative +System. The manager is in many cases a local bookseller, buying Dutch and +foreign books, magazines, reviews, illustrated weeklies and pamphlets in +one or more copies, according to the number, the tastes, and the wants of +the members. Most societies take in books and periodicals in four +languages--Dutch, French, German, English--and so their members keep +themselves well acquainted with the world's opinion. And all this, be it +added, costs the subscriber vastly less than the fees of English +circulating libraries, with their restricted advantages and heavy expenses +of delivery. + +Between the book and the newspaper lies a form of literature which is +specifically Dutch--the 'Vlugschrift,' <i>brochure</i>, or pamphlet. The +<i>brochure</i> is an old historical institution. In the eighteenth century it +was very popular as a vehicle for the zeal of fiery reformers who thus +vented their opinions on burning political questions of the day. There is +no necessity nowadays for these small booklets, so easily hidden from +suspicions eyes, though the <i>brochure</i> is still used whenever, in stirring +speech or impassioned sermon, Holland's leading men address themselves to +the emotions of the hour. These <i>brochures</i>, as a rule, cost no more than +sixpence, yet, none the less, the thrifty Dutch have 'Leesgezelschappen' +which buy and circulate them among their subscribers; they take everything +from everybody, never caring whose opinions they read upon the various +subjects of current interest, a trait which evidences a very praiseworthy +lack of bias.</p> + +<p>This lack of bias is not so obvions so far as newspaper reading is +concerned. Like other people, the Dutch take such newspapers as defend or +represent their own political opinions, and often affect towards journals +on the other side a contemptuous indifference which is only half real.</p> + +<p>Political parties in Holland differ slightly from those of Great Britain, +except that in the former country politics and religion go together. Thus +in Holland a Liberal who at the same time is not advanced in religious +thought hardly exists, and would scarcely be trusted. In consequence the +Liberals were not defeated at the last general elections because they were +Liberals, but because their opponents (the Anti-Revolutionists and Roman +Catholics) denounced them as irreligious and atheistical. In political +strife the religious controversy takes the form of an argument for and +against the influence of religious dogma upon politics and education.</p> + +<p>Now, as far as journalism goes, the Liberal and Radical newspapers +unquestionably take the lead. The Roman Catholics are like the +Anti-Revolutionists, very anxious to provide their readers with wholesome +news, but this anxiety is not successfully backed up by care that this +wholesome news shall be early as well; hence their journalism is somewhat +behind the times. Of most of the progressive newspapers it may be said +that the whole of the contents are interesting; as to the rest, they are +only interesting because of the leading articles, which are sometimes +written by eminent men.</p> + +<p>As far as circulation goes, <i>Het Nieuws van den Dag</i> can boast to be the +leading journal, its edition running to nearly 40,000 copies a day. Up to +the present its editors have been advanced, or 'Modern,' Protestant +clergymen, in the persons of Simon Gorter, H. de Veer, and P.H. Ritter. +Although not taking a strong line in politics, its inclinations are +decidedly towards moderate Liberalism, and, thanks to its cheap +price--14s. 6d. per annum--its extensive, prudently and carefully selected +and worded supply of news, and its sagacious management, it became the +family paper of the Dutch, excellently suiting the quiet taste of the +middle class of the nation. It is found everywhere save in those few +places where the Roman Catholic Church has sufficient influence to get it +boycotted. The <i>Nieuws</i>, as it is generally called, gives from +twenty-four to thirty-two, and even more, pages of closely printed matter, +of which the advertisements occupy rather over than under half. One does +not see it read in public more than any other Dutch paper, and two reasons +account for this. One is the fact that, as has been said, a Dutchman +prefers to do his reading at home--'met een boekje, in een hoekje' ('with +my book in a quiet corner') is the Dutchman's ideal of cosy literary +enjoyment. Then, too, Dutch newspaper publishers prefer a system of safe +quarterly subscriptions to the chance of selling one day a few thousand +copies less than the other, since even the largest circulation in Holland +is too limited for risky commercial vicissitudes. Hence they make the +price for single numbers so high that only the prospect of long hours in a +railway-carriage frightens a Dutchman into buying one or more newspapers.</p> + +<p>The <i>Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant</i> is another typical Dutch newspaper, but +appealing to quite other instincts than the <i>Nieuws.</i> In their quiet way +the Dutch are rather proud of their <i>Nieuwe Kotterdammer</i>, which inspires +something like awe for its undeniable, but slightly ponderous, virtues. +The <i>Nieuwe Rotterdammer</i> is absolutely Liberal, and stands no Radical or +Social Democratic nonsense; its leading articles are lucid, cool, logical, +and to the point; it has correspondents everywhere, at home and abroad; +and all staunch Liberals of a clear-cut, even dogmatic type, who love Free +Trade and look upon municipal and State intervention as pernicious, swear +by it. The present chief editor is Dr. Zaayer, formerly a Liberal member +of the Second Chamber of the States-General, a shrewd, well-read Dutchman, +with a splendid University education; and the manager, J.C. Nijgh, is as +clever a man of business as Rotterdam can produce. As far as it is +possible to lead Dutchmen by printed matter, the <i>Nieuwe Rotterdammer</i> +does it. Its supply of news is so fresh and so reliable that everybody +reads it, even the Roman Catholics in North Brabant and Limburg, Holland's +two Catholic counties.</p> + +<p>The next important newspaper is <i>Het Algemeen Handelsblad</i> of Amsterdam, +which is peculiarly the journal of the Amsterdam merchants, shipowners, +and traders. The <i>Handelsblad</i> is not so exclusively Liberal as its +competitor in Rotterdam, for its inclinations are of a more advanced turn, +and it is always ready to admit rather Radical articles on social matters +if written by serious men. Its chief editor is Dr. A. Polak, of whom it is +said that what he does not know about the working and meaning of the Dutch +constitution and the Dutch law is hardly worth knowing. His articles +display a calm, sound, scientific brain and an honest, straightforward +mind. Its managing editor is Charles Boissevain, whose contributions to +the paper, entitled 'Van Dag tot Dag' ('From Day to Day'), are equally +admirable for brilliancy of style, broadness of spirit, and the manly +outspokenness of their contents. This journal has likewise an extensive +staff and a huge army of correspondents at home and abroad.</p> + +<p>A third Liberal journal of growing influence is the Radical <i>Vaderland</i>, +of which the late Minister of the Interior, Mr. H. Goeman Borgesius, now a +member of the Second Chamber, was chief editor during many years, though +there no longer exists any personal connexion between the two, and the +<i>Vaderland</i> is, if anything, more advanced in politics than its former +editor. Its chief influence is at The Hague, formerly a stronghold of +Conservatism, until the Conservative party disappeared entirely.</p> + +<p>Other Liberal, Radical, and Social Democratic newspapers are published +all over the country, the most important and influential being the +Liberal-democratic <i>Arnhemsche Courant.</i></p> + +<p>Mr. Troelstra, one of the Socialist leaders, edits a daily, <i>Het Volk</i> +('The People'), a well-written party newspaper, whose influence, however, +does not extend beyond its party.</p> + +<p>Professor Abraham Kuyper, leader of the Anti-Revolutionist or Calvinist +party, the largest but one in the country, was editor of the <i>Standaard</i> +until he became President Minister of the Netherlands. In opposition to +the Liberal principle, as formulated by the Italian reformer Cavour, 'A +Free Church in a Free State,' he maintains that the Bible, being God's +Word, is the only possible basis for any State, and holds that the King +and the Government derive their power and authority not from the people, +but from God. His <i>Standaard</i> is another proof that whatever this +universal genius does bears the unmistakable stamp of his power and +personality. One may be thoroughly opposed to his principles, but nobody +can help admiring the sterling merit of his leading articles. If Kuyper +writes or speaks upon any subject under the sun, you will be sure to find +him thoroughly acquainted with it; but then his turn of mind is so +original and his style is so brilliant, that he discloses points of view +which give it fresh interest to those who most cordially disagree with +him. The brilliancy of his journalistic powers is not confined, however, +to his leaders. The <i>Standaard</i> has another and more purely polemical +feature, its 'Driestars'--short paragraphs, separated in the column by +three asterisks, whence their name. These 'Driestars' are the pride and +the wonder of the Dutch Press, on account of their trenchant, clever, +courageous wording, a wording which is sure to incite the opponent to +bitter defence or fiery attack, and to provide the adherent with an +argument so finely sharpened and polished that he delights in the +possession of so excellent a weapon.</p> + +<p>Dr. Kuyper's political opponent in the Calvinist party is Mr. A. F. de +Savornin Lohman, the leader of the aristocrats, whereas Kuyper is the head +of the 'kleine luyden'--the humble toilers of the fields and towns. Mr. +Lohman was a member of the first Calvino-Catholic Cabinet, and is still a +great power in his party; in consequence his <i>Nederlander</i> exerts some +influence, though not nearly so much as the <i>Standaard</i>.</p> + +<p>The two most prominent Roman Catholic newspapers are the Conservative +<i>Tyd</i> ('Time') and the somewhat democratic <i>Centrum</i>. Both are party +papers pure and simple, and are excellently edited, so far as party +politics are concerned, by clever, well educated, well read men. The +<i>Centrum</i> frequently enjoys the co-operation of Dr. Herman Schaepman, the +priest-poet, whose somewhat ponderous eloquence is agreeably relieved by a +glowing enthusiasm and a refreshing force of conviction.</p> + +<p>Kuyper, Boissevain and Schaepman are, indeed, three journalists of whom +any country might be proud. Their style, their individuality, and their +mental power are equally remarkable, and though living and working in +different grooves of life, using different modes of thought, and +cherishing different ideals, they powerfully impress and influence their +readers by the purity of their aims, the honesty of their convictions, and +the chivalry of their controversial methods. But of the three Boissevain +is the only one who is a journalist for the sake of journalism. Yet +neither Calvinist nor Catholic journal tries to compete with the <i>Nieuwe +Rotterdammer</i> or the <i>Handelsblad</i> in the publication of original and +high-class information. They aim rather at providing their readers with +the necessary party arguments, and the news is a matter of secondary +importance.</p> + +<p>As to the provinces in general, of the 1300 towns and villages of Holland, +nearly 300 are the happy possessors of a local newspaper of some +description, and altogether 1700 daily and weekly journals, devoted +variously to the representation of political, clerical, mercantile, +scientific, and other interests, are published in the whole country.</p> + +<p>The Dutch like to see more than one newspaper, but the majority of people +cannot afford to be dual subscribers, and a great many cannot even afford +to buy a single news-sheet regularly. Hence agencies exist for circulating +the papers from one reader to another. Those who receive them straight +from the publisher pay most, and those who are contented to enjoy their +news when one, two, or three days old pay but a small fee. The newspaper +circulating agency is very general in Holland, and in centres of +restricted domestic resources it plays a very useful place in social and +political life.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_17"></a>Chapter XVII</h1> + +<h2>Political Life and Thought</h2> + + + +<p>Holland is a democratic kingdom. Democracy was born there in the sixteenth +century, and is still unquestionably thriving. But democracy was born in +peculiar circumstances; it was reared by men whose ideas of democracy +differed, for, while the leaders of the nation consistently worked for +popular government, they did not all or always mean exactly the same thing +by the word 'people,' and hence did not aim at exactly the same goal. The +French Revolution of the eighteenth century upset the outward form of the +Dutch Commonwealth; it did away with ancient and more or less obsolete +fetters, which proved no longer strong enough to support the growth of +political life, though still sufficiently strong to hinder it. It could do +nothing for, and add nothing to, the profound love of liberty and the +passion for independence which are dearer to every Dutchman than life +itself, but it could and did extend the blessing of political and +religious freedom to a greater number of people. Love of liberty brought +about the disestablishment of the Church, and love of toleration made +Holland follow this measure in the fifties by the emancipation of the +Roman Catholics.</p> + +<p>Every one who is acquainted with Dutch history understands that these two +things have as much meaning for Dutch political as for Dutch religious +life. But side by side with religious and political freedom came also +economic freedom. The guilds were abolished, and so the bonds by which the +handicrafts had been prevented from moving with the movements of the +times, and thus of living a healthy life, were swept away. The social +revolution acted like the doctor who enters a close and stuffy sick-room +and throws open the windows and door, so that the invalid may get the very +first necessity of life--fresh air. So it was with a sigh of relief that +the Dutch--and not they alone--said, 'No State interference in matters of +trade and industry, let us keep open the windows and doors!'</p> + +<p>No doctor, however, will compel his patient to live in a constant draught, +winter and summer, since upon one occasion a liberal admission of fresh +air was necessary to save that patient's life. There can be no doubt that +during the nineteenth century the doors and windows were kept open rather +too long. The great employers of labour were strong enough to stand the +draught, for centuries of prosperity had made them a powerful class; but +their men had no such advantages, and they were worse off when steam power +brought about another revolution by creating the so-called system of +'capitalistic production' and the growth of the large industries. Hence it +comes about that Holland, like all civilized countries, is now trying to +find out how far the windows and the doors must be closed, so as to allow +the men to live as well as the masters. This, in few words, characterizes +Dutch party politics from the social and economic side.</p> + +<p>Political parties in the Netherlands obviously differ not only in their +views upon political, religious, and economic issues, but also as to the +degree of precedence to be allowed to each of these three departments of +national life and thought. The Liberals say, "Politics first; if these are +sound and religion and commerce are free, everything will be right." The +Social Democrats reply, "Politics only concern us as a means of obtaining +real and substantial economic liberty and material equality; religion does +not affect us at all, and certainly does not help to solve the practical +problems of human life." Differing from both, the Anti-Revolutionists +assert, "Whosoever leaves the firm ground of God's Word, the Holy +Scriptures, as the only true basis for public and private action, can have +neither sound politics nor sound economics." The Roman Catholics also put +religion on the first plane, but they are in the most difficult position +of all. They are a minority, even a decreasing minority, and know +perfectly well that they will never be a majority; so they recognize that +in the first place they must try to be good Dutchmen, faithful, loyal +citizens of the State, while in the second place they must not give up one +single ideal of their Church. Their faith in the eternal existence of +their ecclesiastic system enables them on the one hand to be patient and +to wait, just as on the other hand it teaches them not to sit still, but +to act, to work, either by themselves or conjointly with any party that +may assist them to realize, or even to get nearer to, any of their +religious ideals.</p> + +<p>When the Liberals, in the middle of the nineteenth century, did an act of +great toleration by emancipating the Roman Catholic Church, the +Protestants threw over the Liberal Cabinet, and the Liberal leader, +Thorbecke, was returned to Parliament by the most Catholic town of +Holland, Maestricht, in Limburg. But afterwards the Anti-Revolutionists +raised the cry for denominational education, and the Dutch Liberals were +rather sore to find their former friends join their antagonists. The +soreness was in consequence of a miscalculation; the Liberals had +forgotten that in becoming emancipated the Roman Catholics did not become +Liberals, but remained Roman Catholics as before, faithful to their creed, +and to their ideals, even at the cost of political friendship.</p> + +<p>The common ground upon which Anti-Revolutionists and Roman Catholics meet +is the conviction that religion must in everything be the starting-point. +The Anti-Revolutionists take the Scriptures as such; the Roman Catholics +accept the Pope's decisions, given <i>ex cathedrâ</i>, as inspired by the Holy +Spirit and transmitted to him by Conclaves and Councils. For the rest, +Rome's creed is sheer idolatry to the Anti-Revolutionist Protestants, +whereas Rome looks upon ail Protestants as lost heretics. But both, again, +consider such Protestants--the so-called 'Moderns'--who reject the +Trinity, the miracles, the Divine origin of the Bible, and certain other +dogmas, as simple atheists, and as most 'Moderns' are Liberals, and +<i>vice-versâ</i>, they proclaim the Liberal State to be an atheistic State.</p> + +<p>Strictly speaking, there is really no Conservative party in Holland, for +it ceased to exist in the beginning of the seventies. After Thorbecke gave +Holland the Liberal constitution of 1848, the Conservatives tried for a +time to obstruct the country's political development, but ultimately they +gave up the attempt, and their best and ablest men, Mr. J. Heemsherk Azn +and Earl C. Th. van Lynden van Sandenburg, headed Liberal Cabinets as men +professing very moderately progressive views, yet openly opposed to the +restoration of the somewhat autocratic and aristocratic conditions which +prevailed before 1848 in consequence of the reaction against the chaotic +era of the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet though there is +no Conservative party in Holland, there are, none the less, Conservatives +in every party.</p> + +<p>The Liberal party counts three sections, the Old Liberals, the +Radico-Liberals, and the Liberal Democrats. The Old Liberals adhere to +Thorbecke's principles, and maintain that it is the primary business of a +Liberal State to promote individuality and to create on this basis the +general conditions by which social development can be achieved. According +to them the State has no right to interfere in everything, to cure +everything, to provide everything, as the collectivist would like; on the +contrary, its first duty is abstinence--simply to preserve a fair field +and to show no favour. These Old Liberals, in fact, regard the State as a +legal corporation which exists merely to administer justice and to guard +the constitutional rights of its citizens.</p> + +<p>Their political friends and next-of-kin are the Radico-Liberals of the +'Liberal Union,' who form, for the present, the bulk of the party. They +admit the value of individual energy and enterprise, and hold that +unlimited scope must be allowed to these; they even contend that, on the +whole, the system of unfettered individualism proved to be more in the +workman's favour than the opposite; but they also admit that this +condition is not such as it might and ought to be, and in consequence they +do not object to social legislation wherever individual efforts fail.</p> + +<p>The advanced Liberal Democrats ('de Vryzinnige Democraten') differ +fundamentally from both the foregoing parties. They give prominence to +political rights and franchises, and hence fall foul of a leading clause +(clause 80) of the constitution, which confers electoral powers upon only +such adult male inhabitants as 'possess characteristics of capability and +prosperity.' The members of the 'Liberal Union' admit that the requirement +of a certain measure of prosperity withholds from numbers of citizens the +right to influence their country's affairs by their votes. They admit also +that the constitution ought to be altered on this point, but they doubt +whether it is sound practical politics to put this item in the foreground. +They say, in effect, 'We can quite well provide the country with adequate +social legislation either with or without the help of the disfranchised +section of the population, for if we propose measures dealing with social +problems, even the more Conservative amongst us will not object, and those +measures will come on the statute book. But there is not the slightest +chance that we shall ever get the Old Liberals to give the franchise to +poor and destitute people, who have no financial stake whatever in the +country. So by insisting upon adult suffrage you merely postpone social +legislation indefinitely. Moreover, the object of our social legislation +can only be to make the poorer class more capable and more prosperous, and +as soon as that end is gained they get the franchise automatically, +without any change of the constitution.' To this the Liberal Democrats +reply: 'Social legislation must not be regarded as a grudgingly admitted +necessity, it is the paramount duty of the State, and as social +legislation principally affects those who are now disfranchised, it is +only just to begin by affording them the opportunity of expressing their +opinions upon the subject, and hence to alter the constitution so as to +give them votes, for they know best what they want.'</p> + +<p>The Liberal Democrats deny, in fact, that the State can make any laws that +do not affect the social life as well as the legal position of its +citizens, and contend that those who hold that natural laws rule the +social relations of man with man, and that on this ground the State ought +to refrain from interference, merely allow the State to protect the +stronger against the weaker classes, whereas its duty is the contrary. +Positive interference in social matters is, according to them, the State's +duty, and it may only refrain when the free operation of social forces +creates no conditions or relationships which offend modern ideas of +justice and equity. + +The Democrats have, unquestionably, by their secession, greatly crippled +the strength of the Liberal party, and it will be long before the younger +generation of Liberals can take the places thus vacated and a rejuvenated +and unanimous party can issue from the present dissensions.</p> + +<p>The only other political party in Holland who do not accept religion as +the one safe starting-point for politics are the Social Democrats. When +the German Socialists of the school of Marx discovered how the sudden +development of steam and machinery was followed by a vast amount of +distress amongst the labouring classes, affecting also such of the lower +middle class as principally traded with workpeople, they at once jumped +at the conclusion that the same thing was bound to go on for ever. +Perhaps it was with a feeling of despair, therefore, that the father of +Dutch Social Democracy, F. Domela Nieuwenhuys, gradually drifted into +anarchism, or, as he prefers to call it, Free Socialism, and finally +abandoned all political action. The younger generation, led by F. van der +Goes, H. van Kol, and, last but not least, P. J. Troelstra, still +vigorously carry on the fray, however, and a very considerable number of +Dutch workmen follow them. Their ambition is to conquer political power +in Holland, and as soon as they have it to revolutionize, not the +country, but the statute-book, in such a manner that they may acquire the +economic power as well. Of course, they wish to abolish individual +property in all the means of production, and to make the State the owner +of all these; and it is their hope that a general love for the +commonwealth, and zeal for the general welfare of all, may take the place +of the present egotism and sordid pursuit of wealth.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus30.png"><img src="images/illus30.png" alt="Parliament House at the Hague. View from the Great Lake." title="Parliament House at the Hague. View from the Great Lake." /><br /> +Parliament House at the Hague. View from the Great Lake.</a></p> + +<p>The Anti-Revolutionists also have their Conservatives and Progressives. +Dr. Kuyper always speaks of a 'Left' and a 'Right' wing of his party, and +as the Conservative 'Right' is largely composed of the members of the +Dutch nobility, he once sneeringly called this fraction 'the men with the +double names.' Their proper title is 'Free Anti-Revolutionists,' and their +leader, Jhr. A.F. de Savornin Lohman, who in 1888, with Baron Ae. Mackay +(Lord Reay's cousin), led the first Anti-Revolutionist-Catholic majority +in the Second Chamber of the States-General.</p> + +<p>The third faction is headed by Dr. Bronsveld, and is called the +'Christian Historicals,' who differ on one great principle from the two +others, inasmuch as they seek the re-establishment of the Netherlands +Hervormde Kerk as State Church.</p> + +<p>But, however much they differ in practical measures, their common ground +is the recognition of the Holy Scriptures as the only right basis for +statesmanship, and their conviction that the present modern State is +merely a passing, non-Dutch consequence of the French Revolution and its +disastrous teachings. They all agree that the Netherlands should be +governed according to the principles that made Holland great and powerful +ever since the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Dr. Kuyper is fully +convinced that the French Revolution thrust Holland off its historical +line of development, and he wants to return, as near as possible, to the +point reached before that event, or, at any rate, to lead the State +forward in the old direction.</p> + +<p>All Anti-Revolutionists hold that their first civic duty is obedience to +God;--if conscience requires resistance to the authorities, resist them, +whatever you may suffer. At the same time they eschew clericalism and +object to every form of State Church. Hence one of their chief antipathies +is clause 171 of the constitution, which continues in the same way as +before the disestablishment of the Church the payments by the Exchequer to +various clergymen of all denominations. In opposition to this they demand +entire and absolute liberty and equality for all churches and confessions, +and, theoretically, admit that one can be a member of their party without +being of their creed. With regard to education, they do not desire to +substitute denominational State schools for the present neutral ones, but +they object that at present the State compels parents, who desire +religious schools for their children, not only to find all necessary +money for these 'free schools,' but to contribute in addition to the +school taxes, to the advantage of such parents as hold that secular and +religious education are better disconnected, since religious education +must needs be dogmatical and sectarian, and that the churches and not the +State should look to this, whereas school education can quite well be +given without reference to religion at all.</p> + +<p>The Anti-Revolutionist position, on the other hand, is that it is not the +State's duty to provide school or any other education, all education being +a matter of private concern for the individual family, and not a public +business at all; though they allow that where parents are unable to +maintain them schools may be erected by the taxpayers' money. They also +deprecate legislation against intemperance, immorality, and prostitution, +because they think such laws do not remove the evils themselves, but +merely attack their visible signs, and relieve moral trespassers of part +of their responsibility by protecting them against certain consequences of +their acts. They are opposed to the legal and compulsory observance of the +Sabbath, holding this to be an affair of the churches and of individuals; +but they support laws to compel employers to allow their men a sufficient +weekly rest on Sundays. They admit a limited State interference in social +matters, but contend that it must not discourage individual effort, or +create a host of officials, inspectors, and controllers. The franchise +must, according to them, never enable one section of the nation to +supersede the other by sheer force of numbers; they do not admit that the +majority System is the ultimate and only criterion of legality and +justice; moreover, the family being the unit from which the commonwealth +has grown into existence, they contend that heads of families are the +natural electors. Where the Old Liberals say that the financial test is +the right one for voters, the Anti-Revolutionists hold that no one has a +real stake in the country who has not a family and knows nothing of the +responsibilities involved thereby. Dr. Kuyper is the democratic leader of +what he calls, in classical but antiquated Dutch, the 'Kleine luyden' (the +'Little people') amongst the Anti-Revolutionists. He knows that the +'double-named' Free Anti-Revolutionists have little sympathy with his +social programme, but this does not matter, since they are perfectly well +aware of the fact that they owe everything, as far as political power +goes, to the 'Little people.'</p> + +<p>Finally, there is the Left Wing of the Roman Catholic party, who derive +their social convictions from Pope Leo's Encyclica 'Rerum Novarum,' which +affords a great many points upon which joint action is possible, for Leo +XIII. is often called in Holland 'the Workmen's Pope.' Both +Anti-Revolutionists and Roman Catholics entertain entirely different +political ideals, but they agree upon this, that the modern Liberal State +is not really neutral in religions matters, but is 'Modern Protestant,' +and 'Modern' Protestantism spells atheism in their eyes; and both regard a +weak and fragile Christian as a better citizen than the best atheist or +agnostic. For this reason they are combined in hostility to the existing +System of elementary education, which they suspect of an atheistic +tendency. These two questions, religion and the schools, virtually exhaust +the vital points of agreement between the Anti-Revolutionists and the +Roman Catholics, though in an emergency they might possibly unite on +social legislation or some mild form of Protection. The latter would, +however, have to be very mild indeed, for Dr. Kuyper is a Free Trader, and +the 'Little people' like cheap bread just as well as other folk. For +Holland it might be a matter of great importance if progressive social +legislation became Kuyper's chief work.</p> + +<p>There is no doubt a great drawback in this mixing up by ail parties of +politics and religion. Kuyper, the Calvinist; Schaepman, the Catholic; +Drucker, Treub, and Molengraaf, the Liberal Democrats; Goeman Borgesius, +the man of the 'Liberal Union;' and Troelstra, the Socialist, all have +many common ideas on social questions, although they may differ in +principles and seek different aims. Each of them, however, has +Conservative opponents in his own party, and there is just a possibility +that the next few years may bring about not only a healthy measure of +social development, but also a much-desired readjustment of parties, on +non-theological, undogmatical lines.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_18"></a>Chapter XVIII</h1> + +<h2>The Administration of Justice</h2> + + + +<p>There are two very marked differences between the administration of +justice in Holland and in England. The first is that what are called +'petty offences' are not tried and disposed of summarily in the former +country. There the offender in such cases is subjected to a process known +as 'verbalization'--that is, his name, address, age, and all particulars +of the offence are noted by the police; and he is thereupon informed that +he will be called upon to give an account of himself later. A week or two +may pass before the offender receives verbal or printed notice requiring +his presence before the Court of the Cantonal Judge, which answers +somewhat to the English Police Court. This delay in the administration of +justice is regarded as a great defect even in Holland, and one which is +more and more being recognized. The establishment of the Police Court as +known and conducted in England is felt, therefore, to be a great +<i>desideratum</i>, and it is by no means unlikely that it may be introduced +before long, since the Dutch have always shown themselves ready to adopt +any modification of their own institutions which the experience of other +countries may prove to be clearly desirable.</p> + +<p>The second difference is that trial by jury as Englishmen understand it +does not exist in the Netherlands. But here the Dutch are not likely to +abandon their own tradition. The jury in Holland is composed of +experienced and qualified judges, who are not apt to modify their opinions +as to the guilt or innocence of accused persons owing to the tears of the +latter or the passionate appeals of their advocates. Rightly or wrongly, +the most eminent lawyers in Holland ascribe the often-recurring cases of +miscarriage of justice in some countries which have adopted the jury +system to this system itself, and it is very improbable, therefore, that +in this respect the Dutch will copy any of their neighbours.</p> + +<p>The organization of justice in Holland originated in the Code Napoleon, +which was introduced shortly after the country's annexation to the French +Empire. In the judicial system in vogue to-day, which is the result of +modifications introduced at various times during last century, and +particularly by a law of the year 1895, the administration of justice is +vested in the High Court (<i>Hooge Raad</i>), the Provincial Courts of Justice +(<i>Gerechtskoven</i>), the Arrondissements (<i>Rechtbanken</i>), and the Cantonal +Courts (<i>Kantongerechten</i>).</p> + +<p>The High Court consists of a President, a Vice-President, from twelve to +fourteen Councillors, a Procurator-General, three Advocates-General (who +form, with the Procurator-General, the 'Public Ministry' or Office of +Public Prosecution), also a Greffier, or Clerk of Court, and two deputy +Greffiers. Most of the appointments are made by the Sovereign, and are +for life. The High Court is situated at The Hague, and its principal duty +is to control the administration of justice by the lower Courts, a +process known as 'cassation.' If, for example, one of the lower Courts +has pronounced a sentence from which there is no appeal in that Court, +and one of the contending parties is of opinion that the sentence is +excessive, that party may require the High Court to cancel or annul +(<i>casseer</i>) the verdict. When an appeal for cassation or annulment is +thus made, the High Court has not to go into the question of the guilt or +innocence of the contending parties, but merely into the question whether +the lower Court has judged rightly or whether it was competent to judge +the case at all. Such 'cassations' occur almost daily, not because the +High Court has a reputation for reversing the verdicts given below, but +because the process offers at least a good chance of getting a sentence +reduced. The Public Prosecution, however, has power to set in motion the +process of cassation without being called upon so to do if the interests +of justice should in its opinion require it. To the jurisdiction of the +High Court belong also piracy cases, the apportionment of prizes made in +war, and the determination of accusations against State officials of +abuse of power.</p> + +<p>Of Provincial Courts there are five, each composed of officials similar in +name, though not in rank, to those of the High Court, and they, too, are +for the most part appointed by the Crown, though not all for life. These +Provincial Courts pronounce judgment in the second instance--that is, when +the decision of a lower Court has been appealed against. This is, in fact, +their principal function, though they also pronounce judgment in the first +instance in cases of difference between the Cantonal Courts or +Arrondissement Courts. The latter are so named from the divisions into +which the country was split up for administrative purposes during the +Napoleonic <i>régime</i>, for the existing arrondissement boundaries are +virtually the same as those of ninety years ago.</p> + +<p>There are twenty-three Arrondissement Courts, thirteen of the first-class +and ten of the second class. Their principal business is to pronounce +judgment in the first instance, even in criminal cases, but they also +decide in the final instance in cases of dispute between the Cantonal +Courts, which are under their jurisdiction. They likewise adjudicate upon +claims for compensation up to a certain amount, upon disputes regarding +the boundaries of land and property, and upon complaints relating to +water-supply, drainage, and the like, while cases of mendicancy, vagrancy, +and evasion of taxes are decided by these Courts summarily.</p> + +<p>The Cantonal Courts are, as already stated, the nearest equivalent in +Holland to the English Police Courts. Their members, however, are legally +trained and salaried men, though attached to each Court are several +unsalaried deputies. The Judges of these Courts are appointed for life by +the Crown, and the minor officiais for a term of years. All the petty +cases which in England come before the Police Court are in Holland +adjudicated upon by the Cantonal Courts. Poaching, personal violence, +cruelty to animals, damage done to dwellings, trees, or crops, are all +cases for these Courts, and so long as the fines imposed do not exceed +two guineas, their judgment is final, but in other cases the right of +appeal exists.</p> + +<p>Mention has just been made of the fact that even from the lowest Court of +Law in Holland the amateur judge is rigidly excluded. No one who has not +acquired the diploma of Doctor of Laws from one of the Dutch Universities +is allowed to assume any responsible duty associated with the +administration of justice. The same severe requirement is imposed upon the +legal profession in general. The possession of the diploma of Doctor of +Laws and Letters alone entitles a man to practise as advocate. Amongst +themselves the members of the legal profession also exercise a sort of +mutual surveillance by means of their Councils of Supervision and +Discipline, whose duty it is to take care that nothing is done by an +advocate which is contrary to the law or to the honour of the faculty. +These Councils are chosen from amongst the lawyers themselves in all towns +where there are more than fourteen resident advocates, but in smaller +places their duties are discharged by the Provincial or Arrondissement +Courts. Should a lawyer be guilty of any serious misdemeanour he is +promptly expelled from the Community of Advocates, and he may be even +refused the right to plead in any of the public Courts. In passing, it is +an interesting feature of the Dutch judicial system that in every place +where there is a Court of Justice, higher or lower, there exists a +Consultation Bureau where people without means may obtain gratuitous +advice in legal matters. Unless a charge laid before this Consultation +Bureau appears on the face of it to be unsustainable, the Bureau appoints +one of its members to act as legal adviser and counsellor to the applicant +free of cost. In criminal cases the President of the Court concerned +appoints a legal adviser for the accused, though the latter may choose +another advocate if he pleases.</p> + +<p>It will be interesting to enter one of these Dutch Courts of Law, and a +Cantonal Court may perhaps best serve as an example, since that resembles +most closely the English <i>forum</i> of the people--the Police Court. Let us +assume that we are privileged persons, though engaged in serious legal +business. We are bidden to make an appearance at a quarter to eleven +o'clock in the morning, and, presenting ourselves at that hour, we take +our seats on comfortable chairs, ranged round a long square table in the +large public waiting-room. As many other people are coming in, and the +room threatens soon to be crowded, a considerate attendant, knowing that +we are in favour with the grave and reverend seigniors who preside over +the Court, shows us into another and smaller room, where one of the deputy +Clerks (Greffier) is seated working at his books. One by one other persons +come in, pay small sums of money, of which the deputy Clerk evidently +keeps an exact account, together with the names and addresses of the +payers, the amounts yet remaining due--everything, in fact, relating to +each person's case. We note that some of the payers inquire how much they +yet owe, and the sum being told them, they forthwith take their departure. +We learn that these are all people who were fined some time ago for petty +offences, and who are, or pretend to be, unable to pay the full amount at +once. Hence they are allowed to pay by instalments, and it is the duty of +the Clerk to keep an accurate account of their contributions.</p> + +<p>Our own turn having come round, we are now ushered into the Court, where +we see His Worship the Judge seated at the head--which happens to be the +middle--of a long table, covered by the inevitable green cloth. Papers, +ink-stands, and pens are before him; at his left hand sits the Clerk, and +next to him the first deputy Clerk. We observe, too, how carefully the +proprieties are observed in the matter of dress. All the judicial +functionaries present wear a costume consisting of a black toga reaching +to the heels, with a white 'bef,' or collar-band, hanging in front +halfway down to the waist, and also a black <i>barrette</i>, or square cap, as +in France.</p> + +<p>Five persons are seated in the chairs next to ours and opposite to the +Judge. They have just testified that the last will of their parent has +been duly carried out, and that each of them has received his share, being +in this case '3887 guilders 71/2 cents'. (don't forget the half-cent, for +attention to minutiae is one of those characteristics of the Dutch which +strikes us at every turn). Presently the Judge asks the eldest of the +party whether his name is not 'So-and-so.' The answer being in the +affirmative, His Worship nods to the Clerk, who begins to read out in +clear and measured tones--</p> + +<p>'I, So-and-so (description and address follow), hereby declare and testify +to have received as my share in the heritage of my parent the sum legally +apportioned to me, being 3887 guilders 71/2 cents.'</p> + +<p>Then the Judge asks: 'Are you prepared to swear that this is true, and +that as far as you know nothing is kept behind so that justice is not +fully carried out?' This is the legal formula in use upon such an +occasion, and it produces the expected reply. 'Very well, then,' proceeds +the Judge, 'repeat after me, "So truly help me God Almighty!"' The +familiar words of the Dutch oath are accompanied by the uplifting of the +right hand and the pointing to heaven of the first two fingers. Then +follow the other four members of the family in order of age. All of them +swear in the usual words, except the second daughter, who demurs, on which +the judicial eyebrows are raised in surprise. It appears that the maiden +suffers from religious scruples, being firmly of opinion that swearing an +oath is forbidden by Holy Scripture. The Judge listens respectfully, and +simply answers, 'Then repeat after me, "I hereby solemnly declare that the +words read out to me just now are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing +but the truth."' The conscientious witness having no objection to a +simple affirmation, the words are promptly repeated, the business is +completed, and the party are all allowed to withdraw.</p> + +<p>Now our own turn has come. One of our party, we will assume, has been +appointed by the Cantonal Judge to be guardian over a minor son of another +of our number. All declare who, what, and whence they are, and that the +guardian has received his appointment with their common consent, while the +guardian himself makes formal declaration of accepting the duty. He is +thereupon sworn by the Judge in the occupation of his office, promising +'to act in all things as a true and faithful guardian should act, so truly +help me God Almighty.' These several incidents are fairly typical of the +sort of business which occupies the attention of these minor Courts. As we +leave the building, however, we learn another piece of interesting +information in the course of conversation with the deputy Clerk whose +acquaintance we first made. It is that the principle of 'punishment by +instalments' is applied in the case of the poorer classes, not merely in +the matter of fines, but also of imprisonment, save in criminal cases. +Many a poor man, for instance, who shortly after being sentenced to, say, +a week's or a fortnight's imprisonment has happened to find employment +would be ruined if compelled to go to prison at once. He is therefore +allowed, as in Russia, to select his own time for surrendering himself to +the prison authorities, and if, as often happens in poaching cases, two +different offences have brought upon him two terms of imprisonment, he is +allowed to come before the Judge, with the request that he may combine +these two terms, beginning his incarceration at a fixed date. The Court to +whose clemency he thus appeals generally grants the request, and the man +is thus enabled to work for his livelihood whilst the demand for labour +is general, and to go to prison when he happens to be out of work, and +would only be one mouth more to feed at home, where his wife and children +already find difficulty enough in making both ends meet. When imprisonment +is thus post-poned the offender receives from the Court a document, on the +presentation of which at the prison door the Master of the prison will +admit him as a temporary occupant of one of the cells. Old gaol-birds, +however, are not treated so tenderly, but the Judges soon learn by +experience when and how to apply this merciful arrangement, and when to +refuse it altogether.</p> + +<p>In general the statistics of crime give Holland a decidedly favourable +reputation. Serious misdemeanours are comparatively rare. Crimes like +burglary, theft, and the like, are certainly committed often enough, but +there is no evidence to show that they are on the increase, while life and +property are at least as secure in the large Dutch towns as anywhere else +in Europe. The Hague, though a city of 220,000 inhabitants, is +sufficiently protected by the comparatively small number of 220 policemen. +Rotterdam and Amsterdam both have a larger number of policemen per +thousand inhabitants than The Hague, but this is natural, owing to the +more heterogeneous character of the population of these great commercial +centres. It is a notable fact that in every town in Holland the +Burgomaster or Mayor is the supreme head of the police, and that the Chief +Commissary of Police must not merely co-operate with him, but is in the +last resort subject to his direct command.</p> + +<p>In spite of the fact that Courts of summary jurisdiction of the English +type do not exist in Holland, the police authority possesses a +considerable amount of power. Mention has been made of the process of +'verbalization' as applied to common misdemeanours. In the case of +drunkenness or fighting, however, the offenders are at once taken before +the Commissary of Police, who promptly deals with them. Offences against +which the police are entirely powerless are those of adulteration of food, +household quarrels so long as they remain within certain bounds, and an +offence of quite modern origin known as 'bottle-drawing' (<i>Anglicè</i>, +'long-firm frauds'). This last is an ingenious species of fraud which has +become very common in Holland of late years. A person orders a quantity of +goods from merchants of various towns on the pretence of opening accounts, +which he promises will quickly assume large dimensions. Consignment after +consignment of wares is sent, but never paid for, and when at last the too +trustful merchant discovers that he has been playing into the hands of a +swindler he gets no redress, for the artful schemer has disappeared, +taking with him the proceeds of the goods received. For a time this sort +of fraud was quite popular, but then the eyes of the business community +were opened, and the strong hand of the law fell upon several offenders +with crushing weight, after which 'bottle-drawing' lost in attractiveness. +On the whole, the police in Holland are commendably energetic as well as +dutiful, and the relationship between the police authority and the public +is generally a friendly and trustful one.</p> + +<p>It may be noted that the Dutch law strongly discourages divorce. In +general the present generation is apt to regard separation and divorce +with greater favour than its fathers did, but though this feeling may to +some extent influence the decisions of Dutch Judges in divorce +proceedings, the law itself, strictly interpreted, offers little hope to +those who would weaken the marriage tie. When married people disagree to +such an extent that a rupture between them is imminent, and a demand for +divorce is made, proof is required that the demand comes only from one +side, for divorce by common consent is against the law except in cases of +adultery. In every other case the Judge of the Cantonal Court must do his +utmost to effect a reconciliation. Should, however, a demand for divorce +be repeated, this same Judge, or a Judge of a Superior Court, must again +endeavour to bring the parties together, and only in the event of failure +is judicial separation <i>a mensâ et thoro</i> pronounced, and this separation +must exist for a number of years--as a rule seven--before actual divorce +can take place. Nevertheless, both separation and divorce are far more +frequent nowadays than ten or twenty years ago, owing largely to the +judicial disposition to interpret the law more in accordance with what are +known as 'modern ideas.'</p> + +<p>Holland is one of the few countries which no longer tolerate capital +punishment. It was abolished thirty years ago, and, in spite of the +strenuous efforts of the reactionary party, it is not likely to be +re-established. Quite recently, Mr. C. Loosjes wrote a pamphlet in +advocacy of the reenactment of capital punishment, and his position at the +Ministry of Justice gave to this work considerable weight. His contention +was that since capital punishment was abolished, the crimes of murder, +attempted murder, poisoning, and parricide had increased, but Mr. Loosjes +failed to make sufficient allowance for the fact that during the period +covered by his statistics the population of the country had greatly +increased. The fact is that during the twenty years preceding abolition +considerably more crimes punishable by death occurred than during the +twenty years following that act of clemency, civilisation, and +enlightenment, while as compared with other countries Holland takes a very +favourable position indeed, standing, together with England, Belgium, and +Germany, at the head of the nations having the smallest number of crimes +of a kind usually punished by death.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_19"></a>Chapter XIX</h1> + +<h2>Religious Life and Thought</h2> + + + +<p>The Dutch are a thoroughly religious people. Religious sentiments and +introspective inclinations were bound to develop and prosper in the Low +Lands, where vast plains of fertile land are only limited by the endless +sea below, the unfathomable blue of heaven above; where man feels himself +an atom, lost in the vastness of creation, yet safe, because he is placed +there by the will of a beneficent Maker.</p> + +<p>Introspective, personal, individualistic, self-centred are their painters +and their poets. These were greatly so when Holland's fleets ruled the +seas, and when Holland's influence and power were felt far beyond ils own +narrow frontiers; and they are still so in our days.</p> + +<p>This individualism accounts for the many sects found among the Dutch +Reformed. The Roman Catholic Church, the only episcopacy in Holland, +numbers only two sections: those--the majority--who admit the +infallibility of the Pope, and those--a small minority--who, although +recognizing the Pope as chief of the Church, do not agree with the +decisions of the Vatican Council of 1870, proclaiming this papal +infallibility. The Roman Catholic Church is a tolerably prospering +institution, thanks to the absolute freedom which it, like all the sister +Churches, enjoys in Holland, where, ever since the revolution of 1795, a +State Church has been an unknown thing. On the whole, however, its growth +is not keeping pace with the increase of the population. A former census +indicated that the Roman Catholics numbered two-fifths of the whole +population, but the latest puts them down at only one-third, and in the +Second Chamber of the States General there are only twenty-five Roman +Catholic members out of a total of a hundred representatives. Their +present organization dates from 1853, when the Liberals agreed to the +appointment by the Pope of one Archbishop in Utrecht, and four Bishops in +Haarlem, Bois-le-Duc, Breda, and Roermond. The bishoprics are divided in +decanates, and in 1858 the Pope completed the organization by instituting +chapters, each governed by one provost and eight canons. The Archbishops +and Bishops do not officially participate in political life in Holland, +although, as a matter of course, nobody can help noticing their influence +upon the electorate; the minor clergy as a rule are less discreet in this +matter than their chiefs, whereas the political leader of the Roman +Catholics in the Second Chamber is Dr. Herman Schaepman, a priest, a +professer at the Seminary of Rysenburg, a statesman, an orator, and a +poet, whose quintuple attainments are equally admired, although his +scientific importance is not generally considered to be quite as weighty +as the rest of his remarkable personality.</p> + +<p>Far more significant for Dutch religious life are the other two-thirds of +the population, Protestants to the back-bone. The former State Church, the +Netherlands Reformed Church, was left in a most awkward position when, in +1795, disestablishment was forced upon it. Up till 1848, when Jann Rudolf +Thorbecke saved Holland and the Royal House from another revolution, by +imposing a Liberal constitution upon the reluctant King William II, the +Netherlands Reformed Church had no sound, well-regulated status; but not +before 1870 was the last tie Connecting State and Church severed. The +State now no longer exercises spiritual or other supervision, but merely +pays a yearly allowance to the various clergymen, without vindicating or +claiming any rights in return.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the State no longer pays or appoints University +professors to teach specific reformed theology; every Church of every +description looks after this on behalf of its own students, and whereas +the Roman Catholic clergy are educated at the Seminaries, the General +Synod, the supreme governing board of the Netherlands Reformed Church, +nominates two professors for each of the four Dutch Universities at +Leyden, Utrecht, Groningen, and Amsterdam.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to point here to a peculiarity in Dutch religious and +political life. At the time when Liberal politics were developing in +Holland, critical and historical research made itself conspicuous in the +teaching of leading Dutch ecclesiastics like Scholten and Kuenen. The +Reformation upset the Divine authority of the Pope; these modern critics +denied and destroyed the faith in the Divine authority of the Bible. They +were educated, and afterwards taught their lessons at the University of +Leyden, where the future Liberal statesmen of Holland were preparing for +their task; they had the same ideals, the same modes of thought.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus31.png"><img src="images/illus31.png" alt="Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers +Worshipped Before Leaving for New England)." title="Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers +Worshipped Before Leaving for New England)." /><br /> +Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers +Worshipped Before Leaving for New England).</a></p> + +<p>The ecclesiastics called themselves 'Moderns;' the politicians were +designated 'Liberals.' Both vindicated the supreme right of freedom in +everything: free criticism, free research, free thought, free speech. The +reign of pure intellectualism became supreme; every emotion, every +sentiment was dissected, measured by the measure of inexorable logic; and +rationalism, later doomed to bankruptcy, was in those days all-triumphant.</p> + +<p> +So it came about that the Liberals were 'Moderns' and the 'Moderns' +Liberals; and as the State was for a quarter of a century governed by +Liberals who involuntarily made the Church 'Modern,' populated by +Liberals, so it also came about that their religious opponents became +their political foes.</p> + +<p>These opponents were called 'Orthodox;' they felt this imposition of +liberty as the worst coercion one man could apply to another--the coercion +of the conscience. They did not care to see the Bible treated as a piece +of sheer human manufacture, however exalted; they felt it a burning shame +to have to pay taxes towards the maintenance of irreligious, or even +anti-religious, scientific chairs and colleges. They thought of their +stern forefathers, who had broken the power of the mighty Spanish Empire, +strengthened by God's Word and by that only. To them the Netherlands +Reformed Church and the Netherlands State lost their sound and only safe +basis by the assertion that there was something changeable, something +non-eternal in the Bible; that this Bible, revered as containing the Holy +Scriptures, might be replaced by any human System of thought to serve as +the foundation for the structure of the State.</p> + +<p>This blending of Modernism and Liberalism afforded to them absolute proof +that any abandonment of the ancient creed and the revered confession meant +ruin both to State and Church. So they followed the time-honoured practice +of the Dutch race; they separated, broke away from a species of liberty +which was not of their liking, and became 'Anti-Revolutionists' and +'Separatists' ('Afgescheidenen'); Calvin, with his staunch, severe +Protestantism, being their ideal as statesman and spiritual leader.</p> + +<p>The Dutch language has two words for one thing: 'Hervorming' and +'Reformatie.' But there is a vast difference between the Netherlands +'Hervormde' and the Netherlands 'Gereformeerde' Churches. The former is +the late State Church, the latter is the Church of the 'Afgescheidenen,' +who, before joining the Netherlands Gereformeerde, called themselves +'Christelyk Gereformeerde.' These two joined in 1892, and are now known as +the 'Gereformeerde Kerken' (the Reformed Churches).</p> + +<p>Their leader is Professer Abraham Kuyper, the present President Minister +of the Netherlands. He, like Dr. Schaepman, is a born orator, a prolific +author, a scientific ecclesiastic, a strong democratic leader of men, an +admirable organizer, and perhaps the most brilliant journalist in Holland; +but beyond this, he is a staunch Protestant of the strictest Calvinistic +type, to whom the Roman Catholic Church is a blasphemous and idolatrous +institution. In 1879 he created the 'Society for Higher Education on a +Reformed Basis,' and in 1880 his 'Free University' was consecrated in the +'Nieuwe Kerk' (the New Church) at Amsterdam, Dr. Kuyper ever since the +opening acting as one of the professors. His flock is now strong in +numbers, but his and their faith is stronger and has worked miracles, +building churches and schools, maintaining preachers and teachers, finding +money for everything, and finally, for the second time, gaining a +political victory, with the help of such strange auxiliaries as the Roman +Catholics. What unites them is the conviction they have in common that a +State and a Government not led themselves by religion must lead a nation +to perdition. To them Liberal Governments, although theoretically free +from clerical influence, are actually led and unduly influenced by the +'Modern' Protestants of Holland. These 'Modern' Protestants reject the +dogma of the Holy Trinity and various other dogmas which the Roman +Catholics and the Orthodox Protestants consider the essence of the +Christian creed; they are, therefore, in the opinion of the latter, mere +atheists, and consequently unfit to rule the destinies of a nation.</p> + +<p align="center"><a href="images/illus32.png"><img src="images/illus32.png" alt="Utrecht Cathedral." title="Utrecht Cathedral." /><br /> +Utrecht Cathedral.</a></p> + +<p>These 'Modern' Protestants came to the fore during the last fifty years. +The University of Groningen taught a humanism, which created a reaction +towards the ancient confessors of the creed, the 'reveal,' or awakening. +Subsequently modern cosmosophy tried to adjust its opinions to modern +science and the results of modern research in every branch of human +knowledge. This was a great blow to the ancestral faith and the venerable +Confession. In those days Coenraad Busken Huet published his 'Letters on +the Bible,' popularizing the scientific criticisms of the Sacred Book. +Gradually Leyden's University took the lead, Johannes Henricus Scholten, +Abraham Kuenen, and the Utrecht philosopher Cornelis Willem Opzoomer +assisting the new movement by their profound knowledge, their irresistible +logic, their brilliant style, and their high enthusiasm. In those years +Holland went through ail the throes accompanying the appearance of new +life; it was a time of intellectual stress and strain, a time of +controversial storm in which unrelenting criticism and critical research +carried away everything that could not exist in the light of exact science +and exacter thinking.</p> + +<p>Jacobus Izaak Doedes, Johannes Jacobus van Oosterzee, Chantepic de la +Saussaye, the successors of Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Jan Rudolf +Thorbecke's greatest opponent, and Isaäc Da Costa, Willem Bilderdyk's +famous pupil, defended the ancient creed, but the General Synod was +'Modern' and the 'Orthodox' had a difficult time.</p> + +<p>In numbers of places the 'dominees,' or preachers, were Orthodox, and in +order to provide their own followers with spiritual fare, the 'Moderns' +established in 1870 the 'Nederlandsche Protestantenbond,' or Netherlands +Protestant League. This League sees that all over the country 'Modern' +sermons are preached, 'Modern' Sunday Schools instituted, meetings of +Protestants arranged, and everything is done that can support or promote +religious life.</p> + +<p>Besides these two large bodies of Protestants, the Orthodox and the +Moderns, Holland has a good many Lutherans, Baptists, or Mennonites, and +Remonstrants. Of the Lutherans the most numerous are the Evangelical +Lutherans, who faithfully maintain the Augsburg Confession, while the +Moderns, known as Reinstated Lutherans, abandoned that organ of doctrine. +There is not, however, much animosity between the two sects at the present +time, neither making a strong point of dogma, but both giving a prominent +place to the demands of Christian practice.</p> + +<p>The Mennonites--so called after the Dutch reformer Menno Simons +(1496-1561)--were in olden times the most persecuted Protestants of all. +Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists were equally hard upon them, +and many of them lost their lives on account of their convictions. They +have no test, no church, no rite, no clergy. They have fraternities, and +in these the minister is the 'voorganger' (guide or leader), though his +education, social position, and general duties are the same as those of +all other Protestant ministers. In Amsterdam they have their own Seminary, +and the names of Professors Samuel Muller, Sytske Hoekstra Bzn, Jacob +Gysbert de Hoop Scheffer, and Jan van Gilse are honoured in the country +and outside the 'General Baptist Society,' as their central body is +called. Their teaching and preaching appeal not only to the religions, but +very strongly to the ethical and moral tendencies of humanity.</p> + +<p>The Remonstrants (formerly Arminians) came upon the scene towards the end +of the sixteenth century. Dirk Vorlkertsz Coornhert had written a very +able refutation of the dogma of predestination. The Town Council of +Amsterdam ordered Jacob Arminius to Write a book against Coornhert's work. +But behold! when Arminius settled down to the task, and read Coornhert's +argument carefully, he came to the conclusion that the other was right, +and from an opponent he turned into a powerful ally. This happy lack of +bias has ever been the particular feature of Arminian doctrine, and, like +the Mennonites, the Remonstrants hold that the value of religion is +determined by its beneficial influence on ethics. Considering the ethical +or social fermentation which Holland, like every other country, has +witnessed during the last decades, it is not surprising to find a great +many 'Modern' members of the Netherlands 'Hervormde Kerk' joining the +Remonstrant fraternity, which affords absolute liberty as regards dogma +and confession, and at the same time satisfies their altruistic +inclinations.</p> + +<p>It is one of the commonest contentions of the age that ethics and religion +can exist in one being independently of each other. One very advanced sect +of modern Dutch Protestants--not yet, however, numbering a great many +adherents--does not go quite to this extreme, but in the 'Vrye Gemeente,' +or 'Free Community,' they represent religion as a thing complete in +itself, a thing purely pertaining to the individual, personal spiritual +life. This 'Free Community' was established in 1878 by two Amsterdam +ministers, Pieter Hermannus Hugenholtz and Frederik Willem Nicolaas +Hugenholtz. They neither observe Ascension Day nor Whitsuntide; they +abolished Baptism and the Eucharist; and, however charitable the members +may be in their private capacities, the Free Community, as such, does not +practise poor-relief or charity in any form.</p> + +<p>In this connexion it is interesting to add a few words about Dutch Free +Masonry. The Dutch Free Masons of the present day are not so much +moralists as ethicists. The well-being of the commonwealth based upon the +well-being of every member--spiritually, intellectually, and +materially--is their threefold aim. They feel and express profound +admiration for every form of religious life, utterly indifferent as to the +existence or non-existence of any dogma accompanying it, since they freely +realize how strong a motive religion is to ethics; they admit Roman +Catholics, Orthodox or Modern Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, Mohammedans, +Atheists and Agnostics into their fraternity, no confessional test +whatever being put to any one; they only require faithful co-operation +towards the general betterment of human society as a whole.</p> + +<p>The Hebrew Church has also enjoyed perfect freedom ever since the +constitution of 1848 made the right of congregation absolute and +incontestable. But after being fettered during so many centuries, it took +even this energetic and tenacious race some twenty years to shake itself +free from the lingering influences of long-protracted restraint. It was +only in 1870 that the Netherlands Israelitic Congregation was established; +the Portuguese Jews in Holland have a separate governing body. Modern and +ancient views clash here, as everywhere else, but the consciousness of +their illustrious history, not sullied, but adorned with greater +brilliancy by centuries of persecution, becomes gradually more powerful in +the mind of the Dutch Jew, and invigorates his natural and national +tendency towards the ancient rites and doctrines of his classic creed.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_20"></a>Chapter XX</h1> + +<h2>The Army and Navy</h2> + + + +<p>Although the Dutch maintained their independence in the sixteenth century +against the most formidable regular army in Europe, and also did their +fair share of fighting in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they +have long ceased to aspire to the rank of a military Power. The separation +from Belgium in 1830-31 put an end to the Orange policy of creating a +powerful Netherland State from Lorraine to the North Sea which could hold +its own with either France or Prussia, and since that period Holland has +gradually sunk, and seemingly without discontent, into the position of a +third-rate Power. This has taken place without any apparent loss of the +old love of independence, but it has necessarily been accompanied by a +diminution not only of the military spirit, but of military efficiency and +readiness. The spectacle of immense armies of millions of men in the +neighbouring States seems to have produced a sense of helplessness among +the people of the Netherlands, and to have led them to believe that +resistance, were it needful, would be futile. The inglorious campaign of +1794, when Pichegru occupied Holland almost without a blow, serves as a +sort of object-lesson to demonstrate the hopelessness of any attempt at +resistance, instead of the creditable campaign of 1793; when the Dutch +expelled Dumouriez from their country. Curiously enough, the Transvaal War +has revived national hope and confidence by showing what a well-armed +people without military training can do when standing on the defensive. +Time is necessary to prove whether this new sentiment will remove the +fatalistic feeling of helplessness that has been creeping over Dutch +public men, and brace them to efforts worthy of their ancestry.</p> + +<p>The sense of impotency has not been confined to the land forces alone. In +that matter it was felt that a nation of less than five millions could +not compete with those that numbered forty and fifty millions. But the +same sentiment exists also with regard to maritime power, where the +competition is not of men, but of money. The immense navies of modern +days, and the enormous cost of their maintenance and renovation, seem to +exclude small States from the rank of naval Powers. Holland, with the +finest material for manning a navy of any Continental State, can be no +exception to the general rule. Her little navy is a model of efficiency, +her small cruisers of 5000 tons are not surpassed by any of the same +size, and the <i>morale</i> of her officers, one may not doubt, is worthy of +the service that produced not only the Ruyters and Tromps of old days, +but Suffren, our most able opponent during the long Napoleonic struggle. +None the less, the Dutch navy remains a small navy quite overshadowed by +the immense organizations of the present age, and without any possible +chance of competing with them.</p> + +<p>This self-evident fact exercises a depressing influence on Dutch opinion, +which has latterly shown a marked desire to ally the country with some +other. An alliance with Belgium, that of the North and South +Netherlanders, the old Union of the Provinces broken in 1583 and +imperfectly restored from 1815 to 1830, would be hailed with delight. The +difficulty of attaining this consolidation of Netherland opinion and +resources, on account of pronounced religious differences, has resulted in +the formation of a considerable body of opinion favourable to an alliance +with Germany. For the moment, events in South Africa have placed the old +English party in a hopeless minority.</p> + +<p>Although the Dutch possess in probably an unabated degree all the sturdy +characteristics that distinguished them of old, it seems as if prosperity +had somewhat blunted the edge of patriotism, at least to the extent of +rendering them unwilling to submit to the hardships of the conscription, +when fully applied to the whole people. As the consequence the Dutch do +not come under the head of an armed nation, and the war effective of their +army is less than 70,000 men.</p> + +<p>The regulations applying to the army are based on the law of 1861, which +was modified in one important particular by an Act of 1898. The army was +to be raised partly by conscription and partly by voluntary enlistment. +The annual contingent by conscription was fixed at 11,000 men. Every man +became liable to conscription at the age of nineteen, but as the right of +purchasing exemption continued in force until the Act of 1898 referred to, +all well-to-do persons so minded escaped from the obligation of military +service. At the same time its conditions were made as light as possible. +Nominally the conscripts had to serve for five years, but in reality they +remained one year with the colours, and afterwards were called out for +only six weeks' training during each of the four subsequent years. The +regular army thus obtained mustered on a peace footing 26,000 men and 2000 +officers, and on a war footing 68,000 officers and men and 108 guns, +excluding fortress artillery. Considering the interests entrusted to its +charge, the Dutch army must be pronounced the weakest of any State +possessing colonies--a position of no inconsiderable importance from the +historical and political point of view.</p> + +<p>It will be said, no doubt, that Holland possesses other land forces +besides her regular army, and this is true, but they are by the admission +of the Dutch themselves ill organized and not up to the level of their +duties. There is the Schutterij, or National Volunteer force--perhaps +Militia would be a more correct term, because the law creating it is based +on compulsion. The law organizing the Schutterij was passed in April, +1827, by which ail males were required to serve in it between the ages of +twenty-five and thirty, and from thirty to thirty-five in the Schutterij +reserve. An active division is formed out of unmarried men and widowers +without children. This division would be mobilized immediately on the +outbreak of war, and would take its place alongside the regular army. It +probably numbers five thousand men out of the total of 45,000 active +Schutterij. The reserve Schutterij does not exceed 40,000, but behind ail +these is what is termed indifferently the Landsturm, or the <i>levee en +masse</i>. There is only one defect in this arrangement, which is that by far +the larger portion of the population has never had any military training +except that given to the Schutterij, which is practically none at all. A +<i>levee en masse</i> in Holland would have precisely the value, and no more, +that it would have in any other non-military State which either did not +possess a regular army of adequate efficiency and strength, or which had +not passed its population through the ranks of a conscript army.</p> + +<p>The Dutch Schutterij is ostensibly based on the model of the Swiss Rifle +Clubs, and the obligatory part of its service relates to rifle-practice at +the targets, but there the similarity ends. There is no room to question +the efficiency of the Swiss marksmen, and the tests applied are very +severe. But in Holland the practice is very different. The Schutterij +meetings are made the excuse for jollity, eating and drinking. They are +rather picnics than assemblies for the serious purpose of qualifying as +national defenders. Even in marksmanship the ranges are so short, and the +efficiency expected so meagre, that the military value of this civic force +is exceedingly dubious. It could only be compared with that of the Garde +Civique of Belgium, and with neither the Swiss Rifle Corps nor our own +Volunteers.</p> + +<p>Curiously enough, there is, however, an offshoot of the Schutterij based +also on the old organization of an ancient guild called the +"Sharpshooters." Its members are supposed to be good shots, or at least to +take pains to become so, and they practise at something approaching long +ranges. But it is a very limited and somewhat exclusive organization based +on a considerable subscription. It is the society or club of well-to-do +persons with a bent towards rifle-practice. An application to the +Schutterij of the obligations forming part of the voluntary and +self-imposed conditions accepted by the Sharpshooters would, no doubt, add +much to its efficiency, and might in time give Holland a serviceable +auxiliary corps of riflemen.</p> + +<p>Besides the home army, Holland possesses a very considerable colonial army +which is commonly known as the Indian contingent. This force garrisons +Java, Sumatra, and the other colonies in the East. The army of the East +Indies numbers 13,000 Europeans and 17,000 natives, principally Malays of +Java. Besides this regular garrison a Schutterij force is maintained in +Java. It consists of 4000 Europeans and 6000 natives. The Europeans are +the planters and the members of the civil service. The natives are the +retainers of some of the native princes, and the overseers and more +responsible men employed on the European plantations. The total garrison +of the Dutch East Indies is consequently a very considerable one, viewed +by the light of its duties, but allowance has to be made for the +interminable war in Atchin, which keeps several thousand men permanently +engaged, and never seems nearer an ending.</p> + +<p>The Dutch authorities find great difficulty in recruiting their army for +the East Indies, and with the growth of prosperity this difficulty +increases. Indeed, the garrison could not be maintained at its present +high strength but for the numerous volunteers who come forward for this +well-paid service from Germany and Belgium. At one time these outside +recruits became so numerous owing to the tempting offers made to them by +the Dutch authorities that the two Governments interested presented formal +protests against their proceedings. Germany has always been very sore on +the subject of losing any of her soldiers, and Belgium has much need of +all the men likely to serve abroad in the Congo State. There are still +foreigners of German and Belgian race in the Dutch Indian army, but any +design of turning it into a Foreign Legion on the same model as that of +the force which has served France so well in Algeria and her colonies has +fallen through.</p> + +<p>The only active service or practical experience of war which the Dutch +army has had since the end of the struggle with Belgium has been in the +East Indies. The Lombock expedition of 1894 is still remembered for its +losses and disasters, but on that occasion the Dutch displayed a fine +spirit of fortitude under a reverse, and ended the campaign by bringing +the hostile Sultan to reason. The long struggle with the Atchinese has +been marked by heroism on both sides, and is evidence that the Dutch have +not lost their old tenacity. At the same time the Government finds +considerable difficulty in obtaining the requisite number of voluntary +exiles to preserve its possessions in the Eastern Archipelago, and it may +find itself obliged to reduce the effective strength of its garrison.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the hygienic conditions are still extremely unfavourable, and +the rate of mortality among Europeans in Java and the Celebes is +particularly high. It may be no longer true, as was said with perhaps +some exaggeration in the time of Marshal Daendels at the beginning of +last century, that the European Dutch garrisons die out every three +years, but the death-rate is certainly high, and a considerable part of +the garrison returns invalided by fever a very few months after its +arrival in the East. At present the Dutch Indies are absolutely safe +because England does not covet them, and would never dream of molesting +the Dutch in them provided she herself remains unmolested. But should +international competitions break out in that quarter of the world Holland +might experience some difficulty in maintaining her garrison at an +adequate strength for the proper discharge of her international duties, +but this contingency is not likely to present itself for another twenty +or thirty years.</p> + +<p>The troops of the regular Dutch army will compare favourably with any of +their neighbours. They are not as stiff on parade as the Germans, and they +are more solid than the French. Their physique is good, although, owing to +the practice of purchasing a substitute, which has too lately ceased to +allow of the change to come into full effect, the infantry contains an +abnormal number of short men, which gives a misleading idea of the average +height of the race. The minimum height of the infantry soldier is 5 ft. +11/2 ins., which is very low for a people whose general stature is quite +on a level with our own. There is certainly one point in which the Dutch +soldiers strike the observer as being different from their neighbours. +They seem light-hearted and jovial, not at all oppressed by the severe +claims of discipline, and at the same time quite free from the slouch that +gives the Belgian linesman a non-military appearance.</p> + +<p>The strength of the Dutch army lies undoubtedly in its corps of officers, +a body of specially qualified men fitted to discharge the duties that +devolve on the leaders of any army. The majority of these pass through the +Royal Military Academy, an institution from which we might borrow some +features with advantage. Candidates are admitted between the ages of +fifteen and eighteen, and undergo a course of four years before they are +eligible for a commission. As the charges at the Academy are limited to +<i>£22 10s</i>. a year, the expense of becoming an officer forms no prohibitive +barrier, and in a course of training spread over four years the cadet can +be turned into a fully qualified officer before he is entrusted with the +discharge of practical duties. Moreover, his training does not stop with +his leaving the Academy. It is supposed to be necessary to complete it by +a further course in camps of instruction, and subsequently by what are +called State missions in the temporary service of other armies. This +practice is fairly general on the Continent, although it is never resorted +to by the British, who are less acquainted with the organization of +Continental armies than is the case with even third or fourth-rate States.</p> + +<p>The headquarters of the Dutch Engineers are at Utrecht, of the Artillery +at Zwolle, of the Infantry at The Hague, and of the Cavalry at Breda. +Utrecht is the most important of these military stations, because the +Engineers are the most important branch of the army, and also because it +is the centre of the canal and dyke System of Holland. The school or +college of the State Civil Engineers, to whom is entrusted the care of the +dykes, is at Utrecht. They are known as Waterstaat, and Utrecht may be +held to supplement and complete the machinery existing at the capital, +Amsterdam, for flooding the country. In theory and on paper, the defence +of Holland is based on the assumption that in the event of invasion the +country surrounding Amsterdam to as far as Utrecht on one side and Leyden +on the other would be flooded. There are many who doubt whether the +resolution to sanction the enormous attendant damage would be displayed. +It is said that the national spirit does not beat so high as when the +youthful William resorted to that measure in 1672 to baffle the French +monarch, and then prepared his fleet, in the event of its failure, to +convey the relics of Dutch greatness and the fortunes of Orange to a new +home and country beyond the seas. On that occasion the waters did their +work thoroughly well. But it is said that they might not accomplish what +was expected of them on the next occasion, while the damage inflicted +would remain. Nothing can solve this question save the practical test, but +there is no reason to believe that at heart the Dutch race of to-day is +less patriotic or resolute than formerly.</p> + +<p>At the same time a very important change has to be noted in the views of +Dutch strategists. Formerly the whole system of national defence centred +in Amsterdam, and it must be added that the dykes have been mainly +constructed with the idea of flooding the country round it. This was the +old plan, sanctioned by antiquity and custom, of defending the capital at +all costs, and making it the final refuge of the race. But latterly the +opinion has been spreading among military men that Rotterdam would make a +far better place of final stand than Amsterdam, because, the forts of the +Texel once forced, the capital might be menaced by a naval attack from the +Zuyder Zee or by the Northern Canal. In old days Amsterdam was safe from +any naval descent, but the introduction of steam has laid it open to the +attack at least of torpedo flotillas. The entrance to the Meuse, it is +represented, could be made impregnable with little difficulty, and the +approaches to Rotterdam from the land side are far more dependent on the +proper restraining of the waters within their artificial or natural +channels than those to Amsterdam. There is another argument in support of +Rotterdam. It would be easier for Holland's allies to send aid there than +to Amsterdam, while a strong position at Rotterdam would senously menace +any hostile army at Utrecht, and contribute materially to the defence of +Amsterdam as well. But the Dutch are a slow people to move. Amsterdam is +supposed to be ready to stand a siege at any time, whereas Rotterdam's +defences are mainly on paper. The garrison of Rotterdam is only a few +hundred men, and to convert it into a fortified position would, no doubt, +entail the outlay of a good many million florins. Still, the conviction is +spreading that Rotterdam has supplanted Amsterdam as the real centre of +Dutch prosperity and national life.</p> + +<p>The Schutterij is, singularly enough, not popular. The reason for this is +not very clear, as the duties are quite nominal, and in no material +clegree interfere with civil employment. The distaste to any form of +military service is tolerably general, and the advanced Radical party has +adopted as one of its cries, "Nobody wishes to be a soldier." Probability +points, however, not to the abolition of the Schutterij, but to its being +made more efficient, and consequently the conditions of service in it must +become more rigorous. There is one portion of the duties of the Schutterij +which is far from unpopular with the men of the force. When a householder +neglects to pay his taxes one or more militiamen are quartered on him, and +he is obliged to supply his guests not merely with good food and lodging, +but also with abundant supplies of tobacco and gin. Apart from such +incidents, which one may not doubt from the nature of the penalty are +exceedingly rare, the Schutterij seems to have rather a dull and +monotonous time of it.</p> + +<p>There is one fact about the Dutch army that deserves mention. It is +extremely well behaved, and the men give their officers very little +trouble. The discipline is lighter than in most armies. There is an +unusually kindly feeling between officers and men for a Continental force, +and at the same time the public and the military are on excellent terms +with each other. This is, no doubt, due to the very short period served +with the colours, and to the fact that the last four years, with the +exception of six weeks annually in a camp or fortress, are passed in civil +life at home.</p> + +<p>The Dutch navy, although small in comparison with its past achievements +and with its present competitors, is admitted to be well organized, +efficient in its condition, and manned by a fine <i>personnel</i>. It is +generally said, perhaps unjustly, that the pick of the manhood of Holland +joins the navy in preference to the army. One fact shows that there is no +difficulty in obtaining the required number of recruits to man the fleet, +for while the nominal law is that of conscription for the navy as well as +for the army, all the necessary contingent is obtained by voluntary +enlistment. No doubt the large fishing and boating classes provide +excellent material, and a comparatively short spell of service on board a +man-of-war offers an agreeable break in their lives. The Dutch being a +nautical race by tradition as well as by the daily work of a large portion +of them, there is nothing uncongenial in a naval career. No difficulty is +experienced in obtaining the services of the seven thousand seamen and two +thousand five hundred marine infantry who form the permanent staff of the +Dutch navy, and if the country's finances enabled it to build more ships, +there would be no serious difficulty in providing the required number of +men to furnish their crews.</p> + +<p>In 1897 some steps were taken in this direction, and a credit of five +millions sterling for a ship-building programme was voted. Its operations +have not yet been brought to a conclusion, but a torpedo fleet has been +created for the defence of the Zuyder Zee, supplementing the defences at +Helder and the Texel. Something has also been done in the same direction +for the defence of Batavia and the ports of Java. The Dutch navy might be +correctly described as a good little one, quite equal to the everyday work +required of it, but not of the size or standard to play an ambitious +<i>rôle</i>. We should not, however, overlook the fact that its addition to the +navy of another Power would be as important an augmentation of strength as +was the case when Pichegru added the Dutch fleet to that of France by +capturing it with cavalry and horse artillery while ice-bound in the +Zuyder Zee. Nor can we always count on a Duncan to end the story as at +Camperdown.</p> + +<p>The impression left on an observer of the military and naval classes in +Holland is that they are not animated by a very strong martial spirit. +Clothed in a military costume, they are still essentially men of peace, +who would be sorry to commit an act of violence or do an injury to any +one. The officers as a class are devoted to the technical part of their +work, and are thoroughly well posted in the science of war. But whether it +is due to the long peace, to the spread of prosperity among all classes of +the community, or to the lymphatic character of the race, it is not easy +to persuade one's self that the Dutch army, taken as a whole, is a +formidable instrument of war.</p> + +<p>This feeling must be corrected by a study of history, and by recognizing +that there are no symptoms of deterioration in the sturdy qualities of the +Dutch people. Physically and morally the Netherlanders of to-day are the +equals of their forefathers, but the conditions of their national life, +the fortunate circumstances that have so long made them unacquainted with +the terrible ordeals of war, have diverted their thoughts from a bellicose +policy, and have confirmed them in their peaceful leanings. How far these +tendencies have diminished their fighting-power, and rendered them unequal +to accept or bear the sacrifices that would be entailed by any strenuous +defence of their country against serious invasion by a Great Power, must +remain a matter of opinion. Perhaps their organization has become somewhat +rusty. Reforms are admitted to be necessary. The annual contingent is +altogether too small for the needs of the age; a great and efficient +national reserve should be created; and in good time the army ought to be +raised to the numbers that would enable it to man and hold the numerous +and excellent forts which have been constructed at all vital points. The +Dutch plans of defence are excellent, but to carry them all out a very +considerable army would be necessary, and at the present moment Holland +possesses only the skeleton of an army.</p> + +<p>Leaving the question of numbers and military organization aside, only +praise can be given to the Dutch soldier individually. He is clean, civil, +good-tempered, and with a far closer resemblance to Englishmen in what we +regard as essentials than any other Continental. The officers are in the +truest sense gentlemen free from swagger, and not over-bearing towards +their men and their civilian compatriots. They represent a genuine type of +manhood, free from artificiality or falsehood. One feels instinctively +that they say what they think, and that they will do rather more instead +of less than they promise.</p> + + + + +<h1><a name="ch_21"></a>Chapter XXI</h1> + +<h2>Holland Over Sea</h2> + + + +<p>Holland holds the second place among the successful colonizing nations, +though Powers like England, France, and Germany surpass her in the actual +area of their colonies and protectorates. Besides her East Indian +possessions, which form by far the most important part of her colonial +empire, she holds Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, and six small islands, +including Curaçao, in the West Indies, and her colonial subjects number +in all more than thirty-six millions, being as many as the colonial +subjects of France and at least seven times the population of the +Netherlands in Europe. The East Indian Archipelago belonging to the +Netherlands consists of five large islands and a great number of smaller +ones. It is not within the scope of a book like this to go into details +of geographical division, but a glance at the map will show us that the +three groups which make up this dependency are extended over a length of +about three thousand miles, and inclucle Java and Sumatra, Borneo, +Celebes, New Guinea, the Timor Laut archipelago, and the Moluccos. The +northern part of Borneo is a British possession, and the eastern half of +New Guinea is divided between England and Germany, while half of the +island of Timor is Portuguese; the rest of the archipelago forms the +possession known as Netherlands India, or the Dutch East Indies. The +most important and the most densely populated of these islands are Java +and Sumatra; at the last census, in 1899, Java alone had twenty-six +millions of inhabitants, more than four times as many as in 1826, but the +richness of its soil is so great that it could support a much larger +population, though the island is only about the same size as England.</p> + +<p>Java was taken by the English in 1811 from the French flag, but was +restored at the Peace of Vienna to the Netherlands, together with some of +the other Dutch colonies. As Dr. Bright remarks in his 'History of +England,' 'it has been believed that its value and wealth were not +thoroughly known or appreciated by the Ministry at the time.' It has now +become by far the most important of the Dutch dependencies, and the +favourite colony for fortune-hunters.</p> + +<p>Considering the great wealth of the Dutch Indies, it is a little +surprising that so few young men are tempted to go out there to seek +their fortunes. As is usually the case in the tropics, those parts of the +coasts which are low and marshy are very unhealthy for Europeans, who +cannot stay in such places for any length of time without falling victims +to malaria, though the Malays do not seem to be affected by the climate; +but higher up, from 500 to 1000 feet above the sea, it is healthy enough, +and up the hills, in the larger islands, the climate leaves little to be +desired. The temperature generally varies between 70 and 90 degrees all +the year round, though there is a certain amount of difference between +one island and another. North of the equator the rainy monsoon lasts from +October to April, and the dry season from April to October, while on the +south side these seasons are reversed. On the line, however, the +trade-winds and monsoons appear very irregularly, because there are four +seasons instead of two--that is to say, two rainy and two dry--and the +weather is also subject to frequent changes of a local character, +especially in the neighbourhood of mountain-ranges and volcanoes. With +the exception of Borneo and the central part of Celebes all these islands +are volcanic. In the principal group, which stretches from Sumatra and +Java to the Timor Laut archipelago, there are no less than thirty-three +active volcanoes, of which twelve are in Java, besides a number of +so-called extinct ones which may at any moment burst into renewed life. +Some of the smaller islands are merely sunken volcanoes, such as Gebeh, +for instance, and the Banda Islands, where the 'Goonong Api' +(Fire-Mountain) is a living proof. The best known of all these volcanoes +is the terrible Cracatao, one of the three which may be seen in the +Straits of Sunda. Readers may remember the great eruption of 1886, when +half the island of Cracatao and part of the mountain, which was split +clean in two, were swallowed up in the sea, and parts of the coasts of +Java and Sumatra were overwhelmed by the tidal wave that accompanied the +outburst, ships being lifted bodily on to the land and left perched among +the hills. In one day and night 100,000 persons perished, and except a +slight earthquake, which, as earthquakes are not uncommon in that part of +the world, was naturally not regarded as serious, there was no warning of +the impending disaster, for the crater had shown no signs of life for 200 +years. During the eruption a roar as of distant artillery could be heard +in the middle of Java, fully 400 miles from the scene.</p> + +<p>The form of the islands prevents the existence of very large rivers; the +largest are in Borneo, the only non-volcanic island in the archipelago +which can boast of three navigable rivers each about 400 miles long. +Owing to the narrowness of Java and Sumatra, the rivers flowing towards +the north-east coasts of these islands are very rapid, and as they are +liable to be suddenly swollen by heavy rains, canals have been dug, and +others are in course of construction, to ensure a regular outflow and +protect the land from floods. In an undertaking of this kind the Dutch are +quite at home, for, as every one knows, they are past masters in the art +of taming the waters; but they have not to push back the sea here, as they +have done and are still doing in their native country; the rivers do that +for them, by bringing down masses of gravel and mud, which form wide banks +at their mouths and are soon overgrown with trees. The lighthouse at +Batavia, in Java, was built about the middle of the seventeenth century at +what was then the entrance to the harbour; now it is two and a half miles +from the entrance, the shore having advanced that distance in 250 years.</p> + +<p>Before passing to the question of government, it may be well to notice the +principal races with which the Dutch have to deal. Besides the native +population, the Dutch Indies contained in 1892 about 446,000 Chinese, +20,000 Arabs, and 26,000 other Asiatics, but only 55,000 Europeans, +including the soldiers, many of whom are Germans. The greater part of all +these are found in Java. Of the remaining 355 millions the majority are +Malays, including Malays proper and several kindred races, and to this +last class belong the Javanese, who live in Java, Madura, Bally (or Bali), +and Lombok. Natives other than Malays are the Dyaks, in the interior of +Borneo; the Battaks, in the interior of Sumatra; and finally the Papuans, +who inhabit New Guinea, or Papua, and some of the small islands near. +These Papuans are said to be of the same race as the Australian +aborigines, and are the only black people in these islands, the other +inhabitants being light brown or copper-coloured. In religion, most of the +Malays are Mohammedans, but the people of Bally and Lombok are still +Brahmins, while the Dyaks and Battaks are of very primitive faiths. From +remote times until 1478 Brahminism and Buddhism were the principal +religions, but in that year the faith of Islam began to supersede them. +The ancient religions were responsible for a degree of civilization never +arrived at by the Mohammedans, traces of which are seen in the numerous +ruins of cities and temples that must have been of great beauty and +grandeur which are found in Java, and also in the Javanese literature, +which is written in its own peculiar characters, and the 'wayangs,' or +shadow-plays, which are performed on every festive occasion, and all of +which refer to a history of conquest and wars waged in the times of +Brahminism.</p> + +<p>Here the problem which confronts the Dutch authorities is the old one of +uniting under one Government populations differing in blood and religion, +a problem which always presents great difficulties and even a certain +amount of danger. The system adopted resembles, to some extent, that +applied to certain native States in British India, and the islands are +governed by native kings and princes, under the paternal supervision of +the Netherlands India Government, which consists of a Governor-General, or +Viceroy, and a Council of four Councillors of State, of which the Viceroy +is President. Under these there are three Governors and thirty-four +Residents, all Europeans, with several Assistant-Residents and +'Controleurs,' each of whom has a district assigned to him, in which he +has to maintain order and see that the land is kept in proper cultivation. +The Indian princes are made Government officials by the fact of being +paid by the Dutch Government, and bear the official titles of Regent, +'Demang,' etc., but they also keep their own grander-sounding titles, such +as 'Raden Adipatti,' and so on, of which they are naturally very proud. It +is the duty of a Resident to advise the Regent of his district and at the +same time to keep a watch on him and see that he does not oppress his +subjects. If a Regent is proved to be guilty of oppression, or in case of +sedition or the fostering of rebellion, he is deposed by the Government, +and a better man is appointed in his place, if possible one of his own +relatives, so that the lower classes may be protected and the authority of +the native nobility be upheld at the same time. In some 'up-country' +districts, in Borneo and Celebes, however, the native rulers are +practically independent, and the Dutch Government is not at present +inclined to assert its authority by force of arms; while in the north-west +of Sumatra, though the Atchinese pirates have at last been suppressed, the +war party is not yet extinct.</p> + +<p>Throughout these dependencies the aim of the Government is to rule the +inhabitants through men of their own race, not to substitute +foreigners for natives; and if fault can be found with this policy it +is that too little restraint is put upon the intermixture of the white +and coloured races.</p> + +<p>The splendid fertility of the soil and the great quantity of land yet +uncultivated naturally led the Dutch to seek some means by which the +natural advantages of their islands might be put to better use, and to +this end they set to work to overcome the indolent habits of the natives, +who were not inclined to do more than they considered necessary for their +own subsistence, and to induce them to devote more of their time and +energies to agriculture. In return for good roads and bridges and the +protection afforded by the Government, the natives were induced to give a +certain amount of their time to the cultivation of coffee, sugar, indigo, +and other crops. In this way they were taxed not in coin but in labour; +and this system, known as the 'Culture System,' has produced very good +results, especially in Java and Madura. Gradually, however, under the +influence of the younger members of the governing nation, the cultivation +of sugar and partly that of coffee also was dropped by the Government, and +left to private enterprise, but, supervision by the Government being +thereby abandoned, cases occurred of abuse of power by the +<i>concessionnaires</i>; and though much has been done to prevent such abuse, +it must be admitted that the condition of native workmen is not so good in +the private concessions as it was under the direct authority of the +Government.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the outlook is promising; the development of the natural +resources of the islands goes steadily on, though the rate of progress may +not be particularly rapid, and the inhabitants are generally peaceful and +well-behaved, while their number increases at a rate which seems to +indicate continued and growing prosperity. The schools, too, are doing +good work, and more and more of the natives are learning the language of +their rulers. When a Malay has learned enough Dutch to express himself +fairly clearly in that language, he is very proud of the accomplishment, +and seldom misses an opportunity of displaying his knowledge.</p> + +<p>One of the greatest drawbacks to the moral advance of the native is the +bad example set by Europeans, on which it will be needful to say more +later. Things are not nearly so bad in this respect as they formerly were, +but still the unprincipled life which many of the white men are leading +gives rise to doubt in the native mind as to the blessings of Western +civilization.</p> + +<p>That the native races are generally well-disposed towards the Dutch is +borne out by the number that take service under the Government as police +and as soldiers. Every two or three miles along the Government roads in +Java one may meet a 'Gardoe,' or patrol of the country police, consisting +of three bare-footed Javanese constables, in uniform of a semi-European +cut and armed with kreeses.</p> + +<p>As we have already seen, the Army which the Dutch maintain in their East +Indian colonies is quite distinct from the Home Army of Holland. On their +arrival the men are quartered in barracks, and the officers and married +non-commissioned officers find houses at a moderate rent close by. The +barracks consist not of single buildings but of many separate ones, so +that the different races among the native troops may be kept distinct. +Malays, Javanese, Madurese, Amboinese, Bugis, Macassarese, and the rest +must all have separate buildings to themselves. Formerly there were +Ashantees too, but the recruiting of these was stopped when the colony of +St. George del Mina, on the Gold Coast, was transferred to England on the +surrender of British claims in the north of Sumatra; very good soldiers +they were, but cruel in war, giving no quarter, and very difficult to +restrain in the heat of action. The native troops are officered by +Europeans, but the sergeants and corporals are always of the same race as +the men under them.</p> + +<p>Great care is taken to safeguard the health of the troops, not only in the +arrangement of barracks and in the selection of positions for garrisons, +which are chosen as much on hygienic as on strategic grounds, but also by +the establishment of military hospitals. In most large towns, and in +smaller places on the coast where forts have been built, there are +military hospitals, and to these any European, whether soldier or +civilian, who falls ill is immediately taken; in fact, no others exist, +except some sanatoria recently founded in the hills. A naval officer who +often visited these hospitals, as well as hospital ships in war time, +describes them as 'models of neatness, cleanliness, order, and +usefulness.' 'Life in such a hospital,' he declares, 'is a luxury, not to +be compared with anything of the kind in neighbouring colonies.'</p> + +<p>For many years a considerable force has been constantly employed in +Atchin, and a number of ships of war have been cruising along the coast to +assist in the suppression of piracy.</p> + +<p>The Colonial Fleet is made up of some warships built in Holland and others +built in India, expressly for the Indian service, including a number of +small coasting-steamers and sailing-vessels, and a steamer or two +specially detailed for hydrographical work. The necessity for these last +arises from the shoals and coral-reefs which abound in the Java and Flores +Seas, in the Straits of Macassar, and among the Moluccos, and from the +fact that the creeks and river-mouths are very shallow, and full of +convenient hiding-places for pirate proas; it is most important, +therefore, that both men-of-war and merchantmen should be kept supplied +with good charts.</p> + +<p>Piracy is an evil which the Colonial Fleet is specially designed to check, +and it used to be very bad at one time before the Ballinese War of 1845. +In the year before this, a Dutch merchantman, the <i>Overyssel</i>, stranded on +the coast of Bally, and the crew were massacred, and ship and cargo looted +by the Ballinese. This led to three expeditions; one in 1845, another, +which was undertaken with an insufficient force and ended in disaster to +the Dutch, in 1847, and the third and final one, successfully carried out +by an army of 10,000 men and six warships, together with 6000 auxiliary +troops from the island of Lombok. But while piracy was thus put down to +the east of Java, the Atchinese pirates grew bolder than ever in the west, +and complaints from Malay traders who were Netherlands subjects became +more and more frequent. Numerous punitive expeditions were sent against +the piratical Rajas in the north-west of Sumatra, but in most cases the +real culprits escaped. At last, about 1873, the Government resolved to put +an end to this state of things, and a force under General van Swieten +seized the Kraton, or chief fortress. General van der Heyden took over the +command in 1877, and soon captured and fortified Kota Raja, and two years +later, though his troops suffered heavily from the climate, he had the +whole country of Atchin subdued. The Home Government, however, misled by +the apparent submission of the enemy, did away with military rule before +they had made certain that no treachery was meditated, and on the arrival +of a civil Governor all the advantages which had been won were again lost, +and at last a state of war had to be proclaimed once more. From that time +onward the Atchinese War became a chronic disease, but since an aggressive +policy was adopted in 1898 the war party in Atchin has rapidly diminished, +and it is now almost extinct. Fighting of a guerilla kind is reported from +time to time, but peace is so far restored that the General is able to +send some of his men home, and the people can cultivate their rice-fields +and pepper-gardens unmolested. They are for the most part well disposed +towards the Dutch, whose officers, in their proclamations, have always +been careful to explain that the war was only against the murderers and +robbers who made the coasts and country unsafe, and that no one would be +harmed so long as he went peacefully about his business. Piracy on the +Atchinese coast is now also a thing of the past, and will be so as long as +the Government remains firm.</p> + +<p>To turn to more peaceful subjects, Netherlands India is favoured above +most lands in the richness and variety of its products, its mineral wealth +alone being sufficient to make it a most valuable possession from a +commercial point of view. A part of the Government revenue is derived from +the sale of tin, which is found in several islands, and coal-fields exist +in Sumatra and Laut, while gold is found on the west coast of Borneo and +also in Sumatra, where the Ophir district no doubt owes its name to the +presence of the precious metal. Another mineral product is petroleum, +which has made the fortunes of several lucky colonists; it is found in +many places, but the principal supply comes from Sumatra. These are some +of the chief products, but they by no means exhaust the list, nor is the +wealth of the colonies confined to minerals; there are the +pearl-fisheries, for example, amongst the little islands lying south-west +of New Guinea, and the Moluccos contribute mother-of-pearl and +tortoise-shell, but the real wealth of the islands lies in the +extraordinary fertility of the soil. Most of the land is clay, coloured +red by the iron ore which it contains, and will grow almost anything, +besides being very suitable for making bricks. Sugar, tea, coffee, indigo, +and tobacco are grown in large quantities for export, and the principal +crops cultivated by the natives are rice (in the marshy districts), maize, +cotton, and many kinds of fruit which are also grown in British India. +Most of the inhabitants are tillers of the soil, but the maritime natives +are naturally occupied chiefly in the fisheries, and it is a very pretty +sight, at any little fishing village, to see the boats start out for the +hoped-for haul. Just before sunrise scores of little fishing-boats with +bamboo masts and huge triangular mat-sails slip out of the creeks before +the fresh land-wind, which lasts just long enough to carry them to the +fishing-ground in the offing, and about four o'clock in the afternoon a +sea-breeze springs up, and back they all come, generally laden with +splendid fish. The evening breeze often attains such strength that the +little boats would capsize if it were not for a balancing-board pushed out +to windward, on which one or two, or sometimes three, men stand to act as +a counterpoise, so that it may not be necessary to shorten sail. The +Malays excel in boat-building, and rank very high in the art of shaping +vessels which offer the least possible resistance to the water, and their +boats fly over the surface of the sea in the most wonderful manner. If we +except the rude tree-trunks used here and there, the vessels made by the +Malays may serve, and have served, as models for swift sailing-craft all +over the world.</p> + +<p>Amongst the other industries for which the Malays, and the Javanese +especially, are noted, the principal is the manufacture of textile +fabrics; sometimes these are very skilfully dyed in ornamental patterns, +and show considerable artistic taste.</p> + +<p>Besides boat-building and weaving, the crafts of the blacksmith and +carpenter should be mentioned, and also that of the gold and silver smith, +for this indicates the source of many of the treasures with which wealthy +Dutch homes in the old country abound.</p> + +<p>Now that the war in Atchin is practically over it is not unlikely that +the next few years may see greater advances in the commerce and industries +of Netherlands India, especially as the trade returns report that a great +industrial awakening is taking place at the present time in Holland, in +which case there will be a rush of emigrants to the colonies. As has been +said before, the climate out there is not unhealthy as a rule, but of +course Europeans have to adapt their life to their surroundings. Profiting +by the example of the natives, they have learned to make their houses very +airy and cool. A large overhanging roof shades the entrances, front and +rear, and the windows are without glass, except in the old cities, its +place being taken by bamboo Venetian blinds. Verandahs run along the front +and back of the house, which has generally one story only, and never more +than two, and the rooms open either on these verandahs or on a central +room which divides the house through the middle. The kitchen and +store-rooms are in outbuildings at the back, and the garden all round the +house is planted with cocoanut, banana, and mango trees, for the sake of +their shade as well as for the fruit.</p> + +<p>On paying a visit to such a house you go up two or three steps on to the +front verandah, where a servant-boy offers you a chair and a drink, and +then goes to find his master, who presently joins you. You are never +asked to 'come in;' if the front verandah is too hot, an adjournment is +made to the back. Sometimes, in the interior of the country, visitors are +received in the garden, where they enjoy their cheroot Indian fashion, +reclining rather than sitting. But this <i>dolce far niente</i> does not kill +work, for merchants in the towns work pretty hard, and have to be at +their offices during the heat of the day, from nine to five, and even on +Sunday, if it happens to be mail-day. Other people take life rather +easier, especially in the country, where the routine is as follows more +or less: rise at six, bathe, breakfast at seven; then dress and go to +work at nine; at twelve o'clock lunch, after which one lies down to sleep +or read for a couple of hours; tea at four, and then a second bath. After +five it is cool enough to dress and go for a walk or drive until +dinner-time, and after dinner you may go for another drive or visit your +neighbours. On Sundays you go to church from eleven to twelve, and take +things easy for the rest of the day.</p> + +<p>Travelling, if for any distance, is done at night, both by Europeans and +natives, and if a native has to walk far he usually carries a mat, and +when the day begins to get hot he unrolls his mat and lies down on it by +the roadside. It does not surprise any one, therefore, to find seeming +idlers asleep in the daytime along the roadside. Naturally, the little +wayside shops which are found at every corner are not shut up or removed +at night, as most of their trade is done then, but if customers are few +the shopkeeper will fall asleep among his wares. The Government roads are +well guarded by the native police, and at regular intervals there are +stations where fresh horses can be procured if they are bespoken in time +by letter or telegraph.</p> + +<p>The colonist's life does not seem to be a very hard one on the whole, +though no doubt there are drawbacks, such as, for instance, the want of +schools. At present many Dutch children born in India are sent to Holland +to be educated, not, as in the case of Anglo-Indians, for the sake of +their health, but because there is not a sufficient number of schools in +these colonies. This want will be remedied in time, so that colonists may +be spared the trouble and expense of sending their children to Europe; but +the only Dutch schools in Java that I know of are the 'Gymnasium' at +Willem III (Batavia) and one high school for girls. Native schools are +more numerous, and are being multiplied not only by the Government but by +the missionaries. The attitude of the Indian Government towards missionary +work has changed immensely for the better in the last forty years, and the +labours of the missionaries are now appreciated very highly by both the +Indian and the Home Government, and deservedly so, for the task of the +Government has been very much lightened through the improvement in the +attitude of the natives, owing largely to the work of the missions.</p> + +<p>As to the life and customs of the natives, it is not necessary to +describe all the different races, but the Malay villages deserve notice. +In Java and Sumatra these are not arranged in streets, but the houses are +grouped under large trees, and are separated from the road by a bamboo +fence, on the top of which notice boards are fixed at intervals bearing +the names of the villages; these are necessary, because it is often +difficult to see where one village ends and the next begins. In the open +spaces may be seen a few sacred 'waringin' trees, in which are hung +wooden bells, used to sound an alarm or call the villagers together. +Before the house of a native Regent is an open square, with a 'Pandoppo,' +or roof on pillars in the centre, and here meetings are held, +proclamations read, and distinguished visitors received. The houses are +built of bamboo and roofed with palm-leaves; and sometimes they have +floors of split bamboo, but often the hard clay soil serves as a floor. +There are usually two or more sleeping-places, called 'balé-balés,' also +made of bamboo, split and plaited, and over these another floor, which +forms a sort of loft or store-room. There is no fireplace, all the +cooking being done outside. Such a house can be bought for about five +shillings! It takes a few men two or three weeks to build one, but to +take it down and remove it to a new site is a matter of only a few hours. +Near the houses are the stables, where the buffaloes and carts are kept, +and here and there is a well, over which hangs a balancing-pole with a +bucket at one end and a stone at the other.</p> + +<p>The children play about naked until they are ten years old, when they +dress like their elders, and consider themselves men and women. The +costume of the Malay women consists of the 'sarong,' a cloth about 31/2 +yards long and 11/2 wide, which is wound round the body and held by a belt +and then rolled up just above the feet; over this a wide coat called a +'kabaya' is worn, and over all a 'slendang,' which is very like a +'sarong,' but is worn hanging over one shoulder, and in this is slung +anything too large to be easily carried in the hands--even the baby. The +men wear either 'sarongs' or trousers, or both, and a cotton jacket, and +are always armed either with kreeses or chopping-knives, carried in their +belts; the weapons are for cutting down cocoanuts and bamboo, and for +protection against snakes and tigers. Both sexes wear their hair long, the +men with head-cloths and the women with flowers and herbs, and all go +bare-footed. The men are very good horsemen, and ride, like the Zulus and +other coloured men, with only their big toes in the stirrups.</p> + +<p>In Bally and Lombok the inhabitants are of the same race as the people of +Java and Sumatra, but differ in religion and habits, having never been +wholly subjected by the Mohammedans. The difference is chiefly noticeable +in the construction of their houses, which are of stone in many cases, +and built in streets. Each house has three compartments and a fireplace, +or altar, which stands in the middle, opposite the door, the floors are +sometimes paved, and the roofs are often covered with tiles instead of +leaves, and supported by carved pillars.</p> + +<p>These Brahmins have numerous temples, which are quite different from +anything in the neighbouring islands, being built of brick and divided +into sections by low walls, but without roofs; walls and gates are painted +red, white, and blue, and inside stand a number of altars, on which +offerings are laid. Brahminism survives in some of the other islands, at +some distance from the coast, and occasionally a religious festival ends +in a riot between Brahmins and Mohammedans.</p> + +<p>The staple food of the Malay races is rice, which is cooked very dry, with +fried or dried fish or shrimps and vegetables, and flavoured with chilis, +onions, and salt. Dried beef and venison are also used, and wild pig and +chickens and ducks are plentiful; other articles of food being maize, +sweet potatoes, and many kinds of fruit, such as cocoa-nuts, bananas, +mangoes, mangusteens, and so on. In the Moluccos the staple crop is not +rice, but sago, which is prepared from the sap of the sago-palm. To an +inhabitant of Java or Sumatra the cocoa-nut tree is indispensable; when a +child is born, a nut is planted, and later on, if the child asks how old +he is, his mother shows him the young palm, and tells him that he is 'as +old as that cocoa-nut tree.' The nuts are boiled for the oil, and the +white flesh is eaten, cooked in various ways, generally with other food. +All kinds of provisions and other goods, from butcher's meat to needles +and thread, are sold at the 'passars,' or markets, which are attended by +large crowds.</p> + +<p>Mention has been made of the moral example set by some Europeans to the +natives. Generally the relations between the white and coloured races are +those of superiors and inferiors, but in the matter of matrimony there is +a difference. Many white men in Netherlands India never dream of marrying; +they take to themselves 'Njais,' or house-keepers. The same thing is done +in other colonies, at least in provinces far removed from European +society, when native customs allow it. The ancient customs of the Malays +and Javanese did not prescribe any religious ceremony for marriages; they +had their 'adat,' or customs, which were as strictly adhered to as if they +had been religious, but there was nothing consecrating the marriage tie. +Moreover, their notions of hospitality, which are similar to those of most +primitive races, no doubt encouraged the above-mentioned free marriages, +or at least they explain how it was that the Malay women had no objection +to becoming the 'Njais' of Europeans. Where such a woman was the daughter +of a prince or chief, the European who took her was invariably some high +official, whose position brought him into contact with noble Javanese +families. These young women are remarkably graceful, even fascinating, and +besides have received a good Javanese education, and it is not surprising +that such 'marriages' were sometimes happy and permanent.</p> + +<p>The sons were sent to Europe to be educated, being entrusted to the care +of a guardian, uncle, or friend, and on their return to India soon found +employment in the service of the Government; the girls stayed at home, and +generally married well.</p> + +<p>Such instances, however, are rare; more often the man regarded his 'Njai' +merely as a temporary helpmate, and if he saw a chance would marry some +rich European girl, when the Indian wife would be set aside--'sent into +the bush,' as the phrase was. That such behaviour should have roused the +wrath and hatred of the discarded wives and their relatives was but +natural. Often the European bride, sometimes the faithless husband too, +fell by the hand of a murderer who could never be found, or was poisoned +by a maidservant or cook who was bought over to assist in the work of +vengeance. The cast-out children sometimes played a part in these +tragedies; if not, they certainly retained a hatred of Europeans +generally, and rumours of mutiny were the consequence.</p> + +<p>How this state of things can be remedied is a question which has long +occupied the attention of the Government. Gradually, however, the mixed +population is becoming more educated, and can find employment in +Government and mercantile offices, as all excel in beautiful handwriting. +A better feeling generally exists, and a keener sense of social duty is +coming over the Europeans, so that a good many have really married the +mothers of their children, a thing which fifty years ago was never heard +of. There now exists a mixed race of Eurasians, children of the children +of European fathers and Indian mothers, which at one time threatened to +become a source of danger and insurrection, but all fear of trouble in +that quarter is past. Of the 'inland children' many are now receiving a +good education. In the Government schools they can learn enough to hold +their own in point of knowledge against a large proportion of the +Europeans in the colony, and they find employment in offices and shops, on +the railway and post-office staffs, and on public works almost as quickly +as pure whites.</p> + + + + +<h1>Index</h1> + + + +<p>Administrative system<br /> +Amusements, national<br /> +Army, the<br /> +Art, modern</p> + +<p>Canals and their population, the<br /> +Capital, life in the<br /> +Capital punishment<br /> +Characteristics, national<br /> +Christmas customs<br /> +Church, relation of State to<br /> +Churches, Dutch<br /> +Clergymen, Dutch<br /> +Colonies, the Dutch<br /> +Costume, rural<br /> +Court, the<br /> +Customs, popular</p> + +<p>Divorce, the law of<br /> +Dykes, the</p> + +<p>Easter customs<br /> +Education, public</p> + +<p>Farms and farmers<br /> +Freemasonry, Dutch<br /> +Friendly Societies<br /> +Funerals, customs at</p> + +<p>Games, children's<br /> +Girls, freedom of Dutch</p> + +<p>Home life</p> + +<p>Indies, the Dutch</p> + +<p>Justice, administration of</p> + +<p>'Kermis,' the</p> + +<p>Labour, conditions of<br /> +Law court, description of a Dutch<br /> +Literature and literary life</p> + +<p>Marriage and marriage customs<br /> +Music</p> + +<p>National Characteristics, types<br /> +Navy, the<br /> +Newspapers, the</p> + +<p>'Palm Paschen'<br /> +Peasantry, the<br /> +Poets, modern Dutch<br /> +Political life and parties<br /> +Press, the<br /> +Professional classes, the</p> + +<p>Queen Wilhelmina</p> + +<p>Readers, the Dutch as<br /> +Reading Societies<br /> +Religions life<br /> +Renaissance, the literary<br /> +'Rommelpot'<br /> +Rural customs</p> + +<p>Schools, the<br /> +Sculpture in Holland<br /> +Skaters, the Dutch as<br /> +Social life<br /> +Society, Dutch<br /> +Song, national love of<br /> +State, relation of Church to<br /> +St. Nicholas, festival of<br /> +Student life<br /> +Sunday in the country</p> + +<p>Theatre, the<br /> +Thrift, Dutch</p> + +<p>Universities, the</p> + +<p>Village life</p> + +<p>Wages of labour<br /> +Wedding customs<br /> +Women, position of<br /> +Working classes, the</p> + +<p align="center" class="smallcaps"><b>The End</b></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Dutch Life in Town and Country, by P. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..79839a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #8823 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8823) diff --git a/old/7dlif10.txt b/old/7dlif10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9daec0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7dlif10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6885 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dutch Life in Town and Country, by P. M. Hough + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Dutch Life in Town and Country + +Author: P. M. Hough + +Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8823] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 13, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: The Delft Gate at Rotterdam.] + + + +Dutch Life in Town and Country + +By + +P. M. Hough, B.A. + +With Thirty-Two Illustrations + + + + +Contents + + + + I. National Characteristics + II. Court and Society + III. The Professional Classes + IV. The Position of Women + V. The Workman of the Towns + VI. The Canals and Their Population + VII. A Dutch Village + VIII. The Peasant at Home + IX. Rural Customs + X. Kermis and St. Nicholas + XI. National Amusements + XII. Music and the Theatre + XIII. Schools and School Life + XIV. The Universities + XV. Art and Letters + XVI. The Dutch as Readers + XVII. Political Life and Thought +XVIII. The Administration of Justice + XIX. Religious Life and Thought + XX. The Army and Navy + XXI. Holland Over Sea + +Index + + + + +List of Illustrations + + + +The Delft Gate at Rotterdam +Types of Zeeland Women +Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type +A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type +Dutch Fisher Girls +A Bridal Pair Driving Home +A Dutch Street Scene +A Sea-Going Canal +A Village in Dyke-Land +A Canal in Dordrecht +An Overyssel Farmhouse +An Overyssel Farmhouse +Approach to an Overyssel Farm +Zeeland Costume +Zeeland Costumes +An Itinerant Linen-Weaver +Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Linen-Press +Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse +A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable +Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor +Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs +Rommel Pot +A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume +Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur +An Overyssel Peasant Woman +Zeeland Children in State +Kermis 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' +St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th +Skating to Church +Parliament House at the Hague--View From the Great Lake +Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers Worshipped + Before Leaving for New England) +Utrect Cathedral + + + + + +Dutch Life in Town and Country + + + + +Chapter I + +National Characteristics + + + +There is in human affairs a reason for everything we see, although not +always reason in everything. It is the part of the historian to seek in +the archives of a nation the reasons for the facts of common experience +and observation, it is the part of the philosopher to moralize upon +antecedent causes and present results. Neither of these positions is taken +up by the author of this little book. He merely, as a rule, gives the +picture of Dutch life now to be seen in the Netherlands, and in all things +tries to be scrupulously fair to a people renowned for their kindness and +courtesy to the stranger in their midst. + +And this strikes one first about Holland--that everything, except the old +Parish Churches, the Town Halls, the dykes and the trees, is in +miniature. The cities are not populous, the houses are not large, the +canals are not wide, and one can go from the most northern point in the +country to the most southern, or from the extreme east to the extreme +west, in a single day, and, if it be a summer's day, in _day-light_, +while from the top of the tower of the Cathedral at Utrecht one can look +over a large part of the land. + +[Illustration: Types of Zeeland Women.] + +As it is with the natural so it is with the political horizon. This latter +embraces for the average Dutchman the people of a country whose interests +seem to him bound up for the most part in the twelve thousand square miles +of lowland pressed into a corner of Europe; for, extensive as the Dutch +colonies are, they are not 'taken in' by the average Dutchman as are the +colonies of some other nations. There are one or two towns, such as The +Hague and Arnhem, where an Indo-Dutch Society may be found, consisting of +retired colonial civil servants, who very often have married Indian women, +and have either returned home to live on well-earned pensions or who +prefer to spend the money gained in India in the country which gave them +birth. But Holland has not yet begun to develop as far as she might the +great resources of Netherlands India, and therefore no very great amount +of interest is taken in the colonial possessions outside merely home, +official, or Indo Dutch society. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type.] + +With regard to the affairs of his country generally, the state of mind of +the average Dutchman has been well described as that of a man well on in +years, who has amassed a fair fortune, and now takes things easily, and +loves to talk over the somewhat wild doings of his youth. Nothing is more +common than to hear the remarks from both old and young, 'We _have_ been +great,' 'We have _had_ our time,' 'Every nation reaches a climax;' and +certainly Holland has been very great in statesmen, patriots, theologians, +artists, explorers, colonizers, soldiers, sailors, and martyrs. The names +of William the Silent, Barneveldt, Arminius, Rembrandt, Rubens, Hobbema, +Grotius, De Ruyter, Erasmus, Ruysdael, Daendels, Van Speijk, Tromp afford +proof of the pertinacity, courage, and devotion of Netherland's sons in +the great movements which have sprung from her soil. + +To have successfully resisted the might of a Philip of Spain and the +strategy and cruelties of an Alva is alone a title-deed to imperishable +fame and honour. Dutch men and women fought and died at the dykes, and +suffered awful agonies on the rack and at the stake. 'They sang songs of +triumph,' so the record runs, 'while the grave diggers were shovelling +earth over their living faces.' It is not, therefore, to be wondered at +that a legacy of true and deep feeling has been bequeathed to their +descendants, and the very suspicion of injustice or infringement of what +they consider liberty sets the Dutchman's heart aflame with patriotic +devotion or private resentment. Phlegmatic, even comal, and most difficult +to move in most things, yet any 'interference' wakes up the dormant spirit +which that Prince of Orange so forcibly expressed when he said, in +response to a prudent soldier's ear of consequences if resistance were +persisted in, 'We can at least die in the last ditch.' + +Until one understands this tenacity in the Dutch character one cannot +reconcile the old world methods seen all over the country with the +advanced ideas expressed in conversation, books, and newspapers. The +Dutchman hates to be interfered with, and resents the advice of candid +friends, and cannot stand any 'chaff.' He has his kind of humour, which is +slow in expression and material in conception, but he does not understand +'banter.' He is liberal in theories, but intensely conservative in +practice. He will _agree_ with a new theory, but often _do_ as his +grandfather did, and so in Holland there may be seen very primitive +methods side by side with _fin de siecle_ thought. In a _salon_ in any +principal town there will be thought the most advanced, and manner of life +the most luxurious; but a stone's-throw off, in a cottage or in a +farmhouse just outside the town, may be witnessed the life of the +seventeenth century. Some of the reasons for this may be gathered from the +following pages as they describe the social life and usages of the people. + +In the seven provinces which comprise the Netherlands there are +considerable differences in scenery, race, dialect, pronunciation, and +religion, and therefore in the features and character of the people. +United provinces in the course of time effect a certain homogeneity of +purpose and interest, yet there are certain fundamental differences in +character. The Frisian differs from the Zeelander: one is fair and the +other dark, and both differ from the Hollander. And not only do the +provincials differ in character, dialect, and pronunciation from one +another, but also the inhabitants of some cities differ in these respects +from those of other cities. An educated Dutchman can tell at once if a man +comes from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, or The Hague. The 'cockney' of these +places differs, and of such pronunciations 'Hague Dutch' is considered the +worst, although--true to the analogy of London--the best Dutch is heard in +The Hague. This difference in 'civic' pronunciation is certainly very +remarkable when one remembers that The Hague and Rotterdam are only +sixteen miles apart, and The Hague and Amsterdam only forty miles. Arnhem +and The Hague are the two most cosmopolitan cities in the kingdom, and one +meets in their streets all sorts and conditions of the Netherlander. + +[Illustration: A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type.] + +All other towns are provincial in character and akin to the county-town +type. Even Amsterdam, the capital of the country, is only a commercial +capital. The Court is only there for a few days in each year; Parliament +does not meet there; the public offices are not situated there; and +diplomatic representatives are not accredited to the Court at Amsterdam +but to the Court at The Hague; and so Amsterdam is 'the city,' and no more +and no less. This Venice of the North looks coldly on the pleasure seeking +and loving Hague, and jealously on the thriving and rapidly increasing +port of Rotterdam, and its merchant princes build their villas in the +neighbouring and pleasant woods of Bussum and Hilversum, and near the +brilliantly-coloured bulb-gardens of Haarlem, living in these suburban +places during the summer months, while in winter they return to the fine +old houses in the Heerengracht and the many other 'grachten' through which +the waters of the canals move slowly to the river. But to The Hague the +city magnates seldom come, and the young men consider their contemporaries +of the Court capital wanting in energy and initiative, and very proud, and +so there is little communication between the two towns--between the City +and Belgravia. One knows, as one walks in the streets of Amsterdam, The +Hague, Rotterdam, or Utrecht, that each place is a microcosm devoted to +its own particular and narrow interests, and in these respects they are +survivals of the Italian cities of the Middle Ages. There is, indeed, +great similarity in the style of buildings, and, with the exception of +Maestricht, in the south of the country, which is mediaeval and Flemish, +one always feels that one is in Holland. The neatness of the houses, the +straight trees fringing the roads, the canals and their smell, the +steam-trams, the sound of the conductor's horn and the bells of the +horse-trams, the type of policeman, and above and beyond all the universal +cigar--all these things are of a pattern, and that pattern is seen +everywhere, and it is not until one has lived in the country for some time +that one recognizes that there are differences in the mode of life in the +larger towns which are more real than apparent, and that this practical +isolation is not realized by the stranger. + +The country life of the peasant, however, is much more uniform in +character, in spite of the many differences in costume and in dialect. The +methods of agriculture are all equally old-fashioned, and the peasants +equally behind the times in thought. Their thrifty habits and devotion to +the soil of their country ensure them a living which is thrown away by the +country folk of other lands, who at the first opportunity flock into the +towns. But the Dutch peasant _is_ a peasant, and does not mix, or want to +mix, with the townsman except in the way of business. He brings his garden +and farm produce for sale, and as soon as that is effected--generally very +much to his own advantage, for he is wonderfully 'slim'--he rattles back, +drawn by his dogs or little pony, to the farmhouse, and relates how he has +come safely back, his stock of produce diminished, but his stock of +inventions and subtleties improved and increased by contact with +housewives and shopkeepers, who do their best to drive a hard bargain. In +dealing with the 'boer' the townspeople's ingenuity is taxed to the utmost +in endeavouring to get the better of one whose nature is heavy but +cunning, and families who have dealt with the same 'boer' vendor for years +have to be as careful as if they were transacting business with an entire +stranger. The 'boer's' argument is simplicity itself: 'They try to get the +better of me, and I try to get the better of them'--and he _does_ it! + +If, however, there are these differences between city and city and class +and class, there is one common characteristic of the Dutchman which, like +the mist which envelops meadow and street alike in Holland after a warm +day, pertains to the whole race, viz. his deliberation, that slowness of +thought, speech, and action which has given rise to such proverbs as 'You +will see such and such a thing done "in a Dutch month."' The Netherlander +is most difficult to move, but once roused he is far more difficult to +pacify. Many reasons are given for this 'phlegm,' and most people +attribute it to the climate, which is very much abused, especially by +Dutch people themselves, because of its sunlessness during the winter +months; though as a matter of fact the climate is not so very different +from that in the greater part of England. The temperature on an average is +a little higher in summer and a little lower in winter than in the eastern +part of England; but certainly there is in the southern part of the +country a softness in the air which is enervating, and in such places as +Flushing snow is seldom seen, and does not lie long. But the same thing is +seen in Cornwall. Hence this climatic influence is not a sufficient reason +in itself to account for the undeniable and general 'slowness' of the +Dutchman. It is to be found rather in the history of the country, which +has taught the Netherlander to attempt to prove by other people's +experience the value of new ideas, and only when he has done so will he +adopt them. This saps all initiative. + +There is a great lack of faith in everything, in secular as well as +religious matters, the Dutchman will risk nothing, for four cents' outlay +he must be quite certain of six cents in return. As long as he is in this +mood the country will 'mark time,' but not advance much. The Dutchman +believes so thoroughly in being comfortable, and, given a modest income +which he has inherited or gained, he will not only not go a penny beyond +it in his expenditure, but often he will live very much below it. He would +never think of 'living up to' his income; his idea is to leave his +children something very tangible in the shape of guldens. A small income +and little or no work is a far more agreeable prospect than a really busy +life allied to a large income. All the cautiousness of the Scotchman the +Dutchman has, but not the enterprise and industry. With his +cosmopolitanism, which he has gained by having to learn and converse in so +many languages, in order to transact the large transfer business of such a +country as the Netherlands, he has acquired all the various views of life +which cosmopolitanism opens to a man's mind. The Dutchman can talk upon +politics extremely well, but his interest is largely academic and not +personal; he is as a man who looks on and loves _desipere in loco_. + +The Dutchman is therefore a philosopher and a delightful _raconteur_, but +at present he is not doing any very great things in the international +battle of life, though when great necessity arises there is no man who can +do more or do better. + + + + +Chapter II + +Court and Society + + + +Society life in Holland is, as everywhere else, the gentle art of escaping +self-confession of boredom. But society in Holland is far different from +society abroad, because The Hague, the official residence of Queen +Wilhelmina, is not only not the capital of her kingdom, but is only the +third town of the country so far as importance and population go. The +Hague is the royal residence and the seat of the Netherlands Government; +but although, as a rule, Cabinet Ministers live there, most of the members +of the First Chamber of the States-General live elsewhere, and a great +many of their colleagues of the Second Chamber follow their example, +preferring a couple of hours' railway travelling per day or per week +during the time the States sit, to a permanent stay. Hence, so far as +political importance goes, society has to do without it to a great extent. +Nor is The Hague a centre of science. The universities of Leyden, Utrecht, +and Amsterdam are very near, but, as the Dutch proverb judiciously says, +'Nearly is not half;' there is a vast difference between having the rose +and the thing next to it. In consequence the leading scientific men of the +Netherlands do not, as a rule, add the charm of their conversation to +social intercourse at The Hague. + +High life there is represented by members of the nobility and by such +high officials in the army, navy, and civil service as mix with that +nobility. Of course there are sets just as there are everywhere else, sets +as delightful to those who are in them as they are distasteful to +outsiders; but talent and money frequently succeed in making serious +inroads upon the preserves of noble birth. This is, however, unavoidable, +for the Netherlands were a republic for two centuries, and the scions of +the ancient houses are not over-numerous. They fought well in the wars of +their country against Spain, France, and Great Britain, but fighting well +in many cases meant extermination. + +On the other hand, two centuries of republican rule are apt to turn any +republicans into patricians, particularly so if they are prosperous, +self-confident, and well aware of their importance. And a patrician +republic necessarily turns into an oligarchy. The prince-merchants of +Holland were Holland's statesmen, Holland's absolute rulers; two centuries +of heroic struggles, intrepid energy, crowned with success on all sides, +may even account for their belief that they were entrusted by the Almighty +with a special mission to bring liberty, equal rights, and prosperity to +other nations. + +When, after Napoleon's downfall, the Netherlands constituted themselves a +kingdom, the depleted ranks of the aristocracy were soon amply filled from +these old patrician families. Clause 65 of the Netherlands constitution +says, 'The Queen grants nobility. No Dutchman may accept foreign +nobility.' This is the only occasion upon which the word nobility appears +in any code. No Act defines the status, privileges, or rights of this +nobility, because there are none. There is, however, a 'Hooge Raad van +Adel,' consisting of a permanent chairman, a permanent secretary, and +four members, whose functions it is to report on matters of nobility, +especially heraldic and genealogic, and on applications from Town Councils +which wish to use some crest or other. This 'High Council of Nobility' +acts under the supervision of the Minister of Justice, and its powers are +regulated by royal decrees, or writs in council. The titles used are +'Jonkheer' (Baronet) and 'Jonkvrouw,' Baron and Baroness, 'Graaf' (Earl) +and 'Gravin.' Marquess and Duke are not used as titles by Dutch noblemen. +If any man is ennobled, ail his children, sons as well as daughters, share +the privilege, so there is no 'courtesy title;' officially they are +indicated by the father's rank from the moment of their birth, but as long +as they are young it is the custom to address the boys as 'Jonker,' the +girls as 'Freule.' + +For the rest, life at The Hague is very much like life everywhere else. In +summer there is a general exodus to foreign countries; in winter, dinners, +bazaars, balls, theatre, opera, a few officiai Court functions, which may +become more numerous in the near future if the young Queen and Prince +Henry are so disposed, are the order of the day. For the present, 'Het +Loo,' that glorious country-seat in the centre of picturesque, hilly, +wooded Gelderland, continues to be the favourite residence of the Court, +and only during the colder season is the palace in the 'Noordeinde,' at +The Hague, inhabited by the Queen. + +Her Majesty, apparently full of youthful mirth and energy, enjoys her life +in a wholesome and genuine manner. State business is, of course, dutifully +transacted; but as the entire constitutional responsibility rests with the +Cabinet Ministers and the High Councils of State, she has no need to feel +undue anxiety about her decisions. She is well educated, a strong patriot, +and has on the whole a serions turn of mind, which came out in pathetic +beauty as she took the oath in the 'Nieuwe Kerk' of Amsterdam at her +coronation. How far she and her husband will influence and lead Society +life in Holland remains to be seen. Both are young, and their union is +younger still. During the late King's life and Queen Emma's subsequent +widowhood, society was for scores of years left to itself, and of course +it has settled down into certain grooves. But, on the other hand, the +tastes and inclinations of well-bred, well to do people, with an +inexhaustible amount of spare time on their hands, and an unlimited +appetite for amusement in their minds, are everywhere the same. Of course, +Ministerial receptions, political dinners, and the intercourse of +Ambassadors and foreign Ministers at The Hague form a special feature of +social life there, but here, again, The Hague is just like European +capitals generally. + +Once every year the Dutch Court and the Dutch capital proper meet. +Legally, by the way, it is inaccurate to indicate even Amsterdam as the +capital of Holland; no statute mentions a capital of the kingdom, but by +common consent Amsterdam, being the largest and most important town, is +always accorded that title, so highly valued by its inhabitants. The Royal +Palace in Amsterdam is royal enough, and it is also sufficiently palatial, +but it is no Royal Palace in the strict sense of the word. It was built +(1649-1655), and for centuries was used, as a Town Hall. As such it is a +masterpiece, and one's imagination can easily go back to the times when +the powerful and masterful Burgomasters and Sheriffs met in the almost +oppressing splendour of its vast hall. It is an ideal meeting-place for +stern merchants, enterprising shipowners, and energetic traders. Every +hall, every room, every ornament speaks of trade, trade, and trade again. +And there lies some grim irony in the fact that these merchants, whose +meeting-place is surmounted by the proud symbol of Atlas carrying the +globe, offered that mansion as a residence to their kings, when Holland +and Amsterdam could no longer boast of supporting the world by their +wealth and their energy. + +Here they meet once a year--the stern, ancient city, represented by its +sturdy citizens, its fair women, its proud inhabitants, and Holland's +youthful Queen, blossoming forth as a symbol of new, fresh life, fresh +hope and promise. Here they meet, the sons and daughters of the men and +women who never gave way, who saw their immense riches accrue, as their +liberties grew, by sheer force of will, by inflexible determination, by +dauntless power of purpose; here they meet, the last descendant of the +famous House of Orange-Nassau, the queenly bride, whose forefathers were +well entitled to let their proud war-cry resound on the battlefields of +Europe: 'A moi, genereux sang de Nassau!' + +When the Queen is in Amsterdam the citizens go out to the 'Dam,' the +Square where the palace stands, offering their homage by cheers and +waving of hats, and by singing the war-psalm of the old warriors of +William the Silent, 'Wilhelmus van Nassouwe.' Then the leaders of +Amsterdam, its merchants, scientists, and artists, leave their beautiful +homes on Heeren-and Keizers-gracht, with their wives and daughters +wrapped in costly garments, glittering in profusion of diamonds and +rubies and pearls, and drive to the huge palace to offer homage to their +Queen, just as proud as she, just as patriotic as she, just as faithful +and loyal as she. + +Three hundred years have done their incessant work in welding the House of +Orange and Amsterdam together; ruptures and quarrels have occurred; yet, +after every struggle, both found out that they could not well do without +each other; and now when the Queen and the city meet, mutual respect, +mutual confidence, and reciprocal affection attest the firm bond which +unites them. + +To the Amsterdam patriciate the yearly visit of the Queen is a social +function full of interest. To the Queen it is more than that; she visits +not only the patricians, she also visits the people, the poor and the +toilers. Of course Amsterdam has its Socialists, and a good many of them, +too, and Socialists are not only fiery but also vociferous republicans as +a rule, who believe that royalty and a queen are a blot upon modern +civilization. But their sentiments, however well uttered, are not popular. +For when 'Our Child,' as the Queen is still frequently called, drives +through the workmen's quarter of Amsterdam, the 'Jordaan' (a corruption of +the French _jardin_), the bunting is plentiful, the cheering and singing +are more so, and the general enthusiasm surpasses both. The 'man in the +street,' that remarkable political genius of the present age, has scarcely +ever wavered in his simple affection for his Prince and Princess of +Orange; and though this affection is personal, not political--for nothing +is political to 'the man in the street'--there it is none the less, and it +does not give way to either reasoning or prejudice. + +Such is the external side of Court life. Internally it strikes one as +simple and unaffected. Queen Emma was a lady possessing high +qualifications as a mother and as a ruler. She grasped with undeniable +shrewdness the popular taste and fancy, she had no difficulty in realizing +that her rather easy-going, sometimes blustering, Consort could have +retained a great deal more of his popularity by very simple means, if he +had cared to do so. She did care, so she allowed her little girl to be a +little girl, and she let the people notice it. She went about with her, +all through the country, and the people beheld not two proud princesses, +strutting about in high and mighty manner, but a gracions, kind lady and +an unaffected child. This child showed a genuine interest in sport in +Friesland, in excavations in Maastricht, in ships and quays and docks in +Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and in hospitals and orphanages everywhere. +Anecdotes came into existence--the little Queen had been seen at +'hop-scotch,' had refused to go to bed early, had annoyed her governess, +had been skating, had been snow balling her royal mother, etc. And later, +when she was driving or riding, when she attended State functions or paid +official visits, there was always a simplicity in her turn out, a quiet +dignity in her demeanour, which proved that she felt no particular desire +to advertise herself as one of the wealthiest sovereigns of the world by +the mere splendour of her surroundings. + +This supreme tact of Queen Emma resulted in her daughter being educated +as a queen, as the Dutch like their sovereigns. Court life in The Hague +or at the Loo certainly lacks neither dignity nor brilliancy, but it +lacks showiness, and many an English nobleman lives in a grander style +than Holland's Queen. Now, education may bend, but it does not alter a +charactcr, and whatever qualifies may have adorned or otherwise +influenced the late King, he was no more a stickler for etiquette or a +lover of display than Queen Emma has proved to be. So there is a +probability that their daughter will also be satisfied with very limited +show, and if Prince Henry be wise, he will not interfere with the Queen's +inclinations. He is said to be 'horsy,' but the same may be said of her, +though as yet her 'horsiness' has not become an absorbing passion, nor +is it likely to be. + +It is said also that she abhors music; but as long as she, as Queen, does +not transfer her abhorrence from the art to the artists, no harm will be +done. The facts are that, simple as her tastes are, she does not impose +her simplicity upon others. When she presides at State dinners or at Court +dinners, she is entirely the _grande dame_, but when she is allowed to be +wholly herself, in a small, quiet circle, she is praised by every one, low +or high, who has been favoured with an invitation to the royal table, for +her natural and unaffected manners, her urbanity, and her gentle courtesy. + + + + +Chapter III + +The Professional Classes + + + +The professional classes of Holland show their characteristics best in the +social circle in which they move and find their most congenial +companionships. Imagine, then, that we are the guests of the charming wife +of a successful counsel ('advocaat en procureur')--Mr. Walraven, let us +call him--settled in a large and prosperous provincial town. She is a +typical Dutch lady, with bright complexion, kind, clear blue eyes, rather +dark eyebrows, which give a piquant air to the white and pink of the face, +and a mass of fair golden hair, simply but tastefully arranged, leaving +the ears free, and adorning but not hiding the comely shape of the head. +She wears a dark-brown silk dress, covered with fine Brussels lace around +the neck, at the wrists, along the bodice, and here and there on the +skirt. A few rings glitter on her fingers, and her hands are constantly +busy with a piece of point lace embroidery; for many Dutch ladies cannot +stand an evening without the companionship of a 'handwerkje,' as +fancy-needlework is called. It does not in the least interfere with their +conversational duties. She is rather tall. Dutch men and women seem to +have all sizes equally distributed amongst them; it cannot be said that +they are a short people, like the French and the Belgians, nor can the +indication of middle size be so rightly applied to them as to their +German neighbours, whereas the taller Anglo-Saxons can frequently find +their match in the Netherlands. + +The room in which we are seated is furnished in so-called 'old Dutch +style.' My friend and his wife have collected fine old wainscots, +sideboards and cupboards of richly carved oak in Friesland and in the +Flemish parts of Belgium. Their tables and chairs are all of the same +material and artistically cut. A very dark, greenish-grey paper covers the +walls; the curtains, the carpet, and the doors are in the same slightly +sombre shades. Venetian mirrors, Delft, Chinese and Rouen china plates, +arranged along the walls, over the carved oak bench, and on the +over-mantel, make delightful patches of bright colour in the room, and the +easy-chairs are as stylish as they are comfortable. + +Our visit has fallen in the late autumn, and the gas burns bnghtly in the +bronze chandelier, while the fire in the old-fashioned circulating stove, +a rare specimen of ancient Flemish design, makes the room look cosy and +hospitable. For the moment our friend the lawyer is absent. He has been +called away to his study, for a client has come to see him on urgent +business, and we are left in the gracious society of his wife in the +comfortable sitting-room. On the table the Japan tray, with its silver +teapot, sugar-basin, milk-jug and spoon-box of mother-of-pearl and +crystal, and its dark-blue real China cups and saucers, enjoys the company +of two silver boxes, on silver trays, full of all sorts of 'koekjes' +(sweet biscuits). Many Dutch families like to take a 'koekje' with their +tea, tea-time falling in Holland between 7 and 8 o'clock, half-way between +dinner at 5 or 6 p.m. and supper at 10 or 11 p.m. A cigar-stand is not +wanting, nor yet dainty ash-trays; while by the side of our hostess is an +old-fashioned brass 'komfoor,' or chafer,[Footnote: _Komfoor_ (or +_kaffoor_) and _chafer_ are etymologically the same word, derived from the +Latin _califacere_. The French member of the family is _chauffoir_.] on a +high foot, so that within easy reach of the lady's hand is the handle of +the brass kettle, in which the 'theewater' is boiling. + +Conversation turns from politics and literature to the ball to which my +hostess, her husband, and we as their guests have been invited at a +friend's house. She intends to go earlier; he and we are to follow later +in the evening, for that evening his 'Krans' is to meet at his house, and +it will keep us till eleven o'clock. A 'Krans' is simply a small company +of very good friends who meet, as a rule, once a month, at the house of +one of them, and at such meetings converse about things in general. The +English word for 'Krans' is 'wreath,' and the name indicates the intimate +and thoroughly friendly relations existing between the composing members. +They are twisted and twined together not merely by affectionate feeling, +but also by equality of social position, education, and intelligence. + +Our friend's little circle numbers seven, and as every one of them happens +to be the leading man in his profession in that town, and in consequence +wields a powerful influence, their 'Krans' is generally nicknamed the +'Heptarchy.' Our friend the lawyer is not only a popular legal adviser, +but as 'Wethouder' (alderman) for finance and public works he is the +much-admired originator of the rejuvenated town. The place had been +fortified in former days, but after the home defence of Holland was +re-organized and a System of defence on a coherent and logically +conceived basis accepted, all fortified towns disappeared and became open +cities, of which this was one. The public-spirited lawyer grasped the +situation at once, and, spurred by his influence and enthusiasm, the Town +Council adopted a large scheme of streets, roads, parks, and squares, so +that when all was completed the inhabitants of the old city scarcely knew +where they were. Besides this, he is legal adviser of the local branch of +the Netherlands Bank, a director on the boards of various limited +companies, and the president-director of a prosperous Savings Bank. +Nevertheless, he finds time in his crowded life to read a great deal, to +see his friends occasionally, and to keep up an incessant courtship of his +handsome wife, who in return asseverates that he is the most sociable +husband in the world. + +After Walraven has returned to the tea table, his admiring consort leaves +us, and shortly afterwards his best friend, within and without the +'Krans,' Dr. Klaassen, appears on the scene. He and Dr. Klaassen were +students at the same University, and nothing is better fitted to form +lifelong friendship than the freedom of Holland's University life and +University education. Dr. Klaassen is one of the most attractive types of +the Dutch medical man. His University examinations did not tie him too +tightly to his special science. Like ail Dutch students, he mixed freely +with future lawyers, clergymen, philosophers, and philologists, and it is +often said that while the University teaches young men chiefly sound +methods of work, students in Holland acquire quite as much instruction +from each other as from their professors. Doctor Klaassen left the +University as fresh as when he entered it, and ready to take a +healthvariousest in all departments of human affairs. He is a man to whom +the Homeric phrase might well be applied--'A physician is a man knowing +more than many others.' + +His non-professional work takes him to the boards and comrmttees of +societies promoting charity, ethics, religion, literature, and the fine +arts. The local branch of the famous 'Maatschappy tot Nut van 't Algemeen' +(the 'Society for promoting the Common-weal') and its various +institutions, schools, libraries, etc., find in him one of their most +energetic and faithful directors; a local hospital admitting people of all +religions denominations has grown up by his untiring energy; and he +prepared the basis upon which younger men afterwards built what is now a +model institution in Holland; nor does he forget the poor and the orphans, +to whom he gives quite half his time, though how much of his money he +gives them nobody knows, least of all he himself. + +The Reverend Mr. Barendsen, the third arrival, is a very different person. +His sermons are eloquent; he is a fluent speaker--too fluent, some say, +for words and phrases come so easily to him that the lack of thought is +not always felt by this preacher, although noticed by his flock. Now, a +sermon for Dutch Protestants is a difficult thing; it has to be long +enough to fill nearly a whole service of about two hours; and it is +listened to by educated and uneducated people, who all expect to be +edified. Dominee Barendsen, like so many of his colleagues, tries to meet +this difficulty by giving light nourishment in an attractive form. But if +his sermons do not succeed as well as his kind intentions deserve, his +influence is firmly established by his sympathetic personality. He may be +much more superficial than his two friends; he may be less dogged, less +tenacious than they; yet his fertile brain, his quick intelligence, and +his serious character have won for him a unique position, and his public +influence is very great. Both doctor and parson meet and mix in the best +society of the town, but the slums of the poor are also equally well known +to them; neither is a member of the Town Council, but the same +institutions have their common support. Livings in Holland are not +over-luxurious; and the consequence is that many 'Dominees' go out +lecturing, or make an additional income by translating or writing books. +Some of Holland's best and most successful authors and poets are, or were, +clergymen, such as Allard Pierson, P. A. de Genestet, Nicolaas Beets +(Hildebrand), Coenraad Busken Huet, J. J. L. ten Kate, Dr. Jan ten Brink, +Bernard ter Haar, etc. Dominee Barendsen is likewise well known in Dutch +literary circles. + +General Hendriks is the next to be announced. Dutch officers do not like +to go about in their uniform, but the gallant general is also expected at +the ball, and so he has donned his military garments. He is a 'Genist,' a +Royal Engineer, and had his education at the Royal Military Academy at +Breda. This means that he is no swashbuckler, but a genial, well-mannered, +open-minded and well-read gentleman, with a somewhat scientific turn of +mind and a rare freedom from military prejudice. Hollanders are not a +military people in the German sense, and fire-eaters and military fanatics +are rare, but they are rarest amongst the officers of the General Staff, +the Royal Engineers, and the Artillery. + +General Hendriks married a lady of title with a large fortune, so his +position is a very pleasant one. His friendship for the other +'Heptarchists' is necessarily of recent date, for he has been abroad a +great deal, and was five years in the Dutch East Indies fighting in the +endless war against Atchin. His stay there has widened his views still +more, and when he tells of his experiences he is at once interesting and +attractive, for he is well-informed and a charming _raconteur_. His rank +causes Society to impose on him duties which he is inclined to consider as +annoying, but he fulfils them graciously enough. He is a popular +president-director of the "Groote Societeit" (the Great Club), and of +Caecilia, the most prominent society for vocal and instrumental music; and +whenever races, competitions, exhibitions, bazaars, and similar social +functions, to which the Dutch are greatly addicted, take place, General +Hendriks is sure to be one of the honorary presidents, or at least a +member of the working board, and his urbanity and affability are certain +to ensure success. He has been a member of the States-General, and is said +to be a probable future Minister of War. But the weak spot in his heart is +for poetry and for literature generally; the number of poems he knows by +heart is marvellous, and at the meetings of the Heptarchy he freely +indulges his love of quotations, a pleasure he strictly denies himself in +other surroundings, for fear of boring people. But everybody has a dim +presumption that the general knows a good deal more than most people are +aware of, and this dim presumption is strengthened by the very firm +conviction that he is an exceedingly genial man and a 'jolly good fellow.' + +Mr. Ariens, Lit.D., 'Rector of the Gymnasium (equivalent to Head-master of +a Grammar School), is the most remarkable type even in this very +remarkable set of men. He is highly unconventional, and his boys adore +him, while his old boys admire him, and the parents are his perennial +debtors in gratitude. He is unconventional in everything, in his dress, in +his way of living, in his opinions and judgments, but he parades none of +these, reducing them to neither a whim nor a hobby. He passed some years +in the Dutch Indies, travelled all over Europe, knows more of Greek, +Latin, and antiquities than anybody else, and is as thoroughly scientific +as any University professer. But the Government will never give him a +vacant chair, for his pedagogical powers surpass even his scientific +abilities, and they cannot spare such men in such places. To some +aristocratic people his noble simple-mindedness is downright appalling; +but when he goes about in dull, cold, wintry weather and visits the poor +wretches in the slums, where nature and natural emotions and forms of +speech are quite unconventional, he is duly appreciated. For he is not +only a splendid 'gymnasii rector,' he is also a very charitable man, +though he likes only one form of charity, that by which the rich man first +educates himself into being the poor man's friend, and then only offers +his sympathy and help, the charity which the one can give and the other +take without either of them feeling degraded by the act. He is not a +public-body man, our 'Rector,' but his friends appreciate his keen, just +judgment. They may disagree with him on some points, but a discussion with +him is always interesting on account of his original, fresh method of +thought, and instructive by reason of his very superior and universal +knowledge. + +His best friend is Mr. Jacobs, a civil engineer. Dutch civil engineers are +educated at Delft, at the Polytechnic School, after having passed their +final examination at a 'Higher Burgher School.' Boys of sixteen or +seventeen are not fit to digest sciences by the dozen, and, however +pleasant and convenient it may be to become a walking cyclopedia, a +cyclopedia is not a living book, but a dead accumulation of dead +knowledge, which may inform though it does not educate. Happily, the +majority of Dutch engineers are saved by the Polytechnic School, where +they have about the same liberty as undergraduates at the Universities to +go their own way. Educationally they are not so well equipped, attention +only being paid to mental instruction, for the Director of a 'Higher +Burgher School' is a different man from the Rector of a Gymnasium, while +the System over which he presides is more or less incoherent so far as +educational considerations go. + +But if a civil engineer is a success he is generally a big one. So is Mr. +Jacobs. He is thoroughly well read, though his reading may be somewhat +desultory. His splendid memory, assisted by a remarkably quick wit, allows +him to feel interested in nearly everything--sociology, literature, art, +music, theatre, sport, charity, municipal enterprise. If he is +superficial, nobody notices it, for he is much too smart to show it. His +general level-headedness makes him an inexhaustible source of admiration +to Dr. Ariens, whose peer he is in kindness of heart. His manner is +irreproachable; he never loses his temper in discussion, and treats his +opponents in such a quiet, courteous way that they are obviously sorry to +disagree with him. His business capacities are of the first rank; he makes +as much money as he likes, and however crowded his life may be, he always +finds time for more work. He is a member of the Town Council and a staunch +supporter of Walraven's progressive plans. Walraven has certain misgivings +about Jacobs' thoroughness, but he fully realizes his friend's quick grasp +of things. He may build bridges, irrigate whole districts, and drain +marshes in Holland, open up mines in Spain, build docks in America, or +hunt for petroleum in Russia; he is always sure to succeed, and a fair +profit for himself, at any rate, is the invariable result of his +exertions. He travels a great deal, knows everybody everywhere, and always +turns up again in the old haunts, bristling with interesting information, +visibly enjoying his busy, full life, and not without a certain vanity, +arising from the feeling that his fellow-citizens are rather proud of him. + +The last to come is Mr. Smits, President of the Court of Justice, a man of +philosophical turn of mind, an ardent student of social problems, a fine +lawyer, a first-rate speaker, a shrewd judge of men, and a tolerant and +mild critic of their weaknesses. He also is a member of the Town Council, +and, like Jacobs, a member of a municipal committee of which Walraven is +the chairman. Their duties are the supervision and general management of +the communal trade and industry, such as tramways, gas-works, +water-supply, slaughter-houses, electrical supply, corn exchange, public +parks and public gardens, hothouses and plantations, etc. Smits is also +the chairman of two debating societies, one for workmen and the other for +the better educated classes; but social problems are the chief topics +discussed at both. These societies, he says, keep him well in touch with +the general drift of the popular mind; as a fact, by his encouraging ways, +he draws from the people what is in their thoughts and hearts, and very +often succeeds in correcting wrong impressions and conceptions. He is also +the Worshipful Master of the local Masonic lodge, 'The Three Rings,' so +called after the famous parable of religions tolerance in Lessing's noble +drama, _Nathan der Weise_. Dutch Freemasonry is not churchy as in England; +it is charitable, teaches ethics as distinct from, but not opposed to, +religion, admits men of all creeds and of no creed whatever, and preaches +tolerance all round; but it fights indifferentism, apathy, or carelessness +on all matters affecting the material, intellectual, and psychical +well-being of mankind. + +Smits feels very strongly on all these matters, and his enthusiasm is of +a staying kind; but the ancient device 'Suaviter in modo' has quite as +much charm for him as its counterpart, 'Fortiter in re.' The consequence +is that superficial people take him for a Socialist because he neither +prosecutes nor persecutes Socialists for the opinions they hold. Himself +an agnostic, and lacking religions sentiment, he realises so well the +supreme influence of religion on numberless people and the comfort they +derive from it, that many consider him not nearly firm enough in his +intercourse with Roman Catholics or 'orthodox' Protestants, with whom, in +fact, he frequently arranges political 'deals.' For Smits is, if not the +chairman, the most influential and active member of the Liberal caucus; +and, being in favour of proportional representation, he insists that the +other political parties shall have their fair number of Town Councillors. + +Such are the men who come together in this elegant and yet homely +sitting-room; each of them a leader in his profession, each of them coming +in daily and close contact with all sorts and conditions of men and women +in the town, and enabled by their wide and unbiassed views of humanity and +human affairaffairsntrol them and to divert the common energies in wise +paths. The 'Heptarchy' has, of course, no legal standing as such, but from +their conversations one understands the influence which its members wield +by their intellectual and moral superiority. They conspire in no way to +attain certain ends, but discuss things as intimately as only brothers or +man and wife can discuss them, in the genial intimacy of their unselfish +friendship. They generally agree on the lines to be taken in certain +matters, but even if they fail to agree, this does not prevent them from +acting according to their own rights, still respecting each other's +convictions and preferences. And not only local topics are discussed in +the meetings of the 'Heptarchy,' for politics, art, trade, and science, +foreign and Dutch, come within their scope; for their intellectual +outlook, like their sympathies, is universal. + +Towards eleven o'clock we take leave of each other. Walraven, Hendriks, +and ourselves go to the ball at the house of the 'Commissaris der +Koningin' (Queen's Commissioner), the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, Baron +Alma van Strae. Baron and Baroness Alma live in a palatial mansion, and we +find the huge reception and drawing rooms full of a gay crowd of young +folk. The rooms are beautifully decorated, there is a profusion of flowers +and palms in the halls and on the stairs; and a host of footmen in +bright-buttoned, buff-coloured livery coats, short trousers, and white +stockings, move quietly about, betraying the well-trained instincts of +hereditary lackeydom. There are county councillors, judges, officers of +army and navy, bankers, merchants, manufacturers, town councillors, the +mayor and town clerk, the president and some members of the Chamber of +Commerce, and committee-men of orphanages and homes for old people. All +have brought their wives, daughters, and sons to do the dancing, for +though they occasionally join themselves, they prefer to indulge in a +quiet game of whist or to settle down in Baron Alma's smoking and billiard +room for a cigar. + +These social fonctions, however, are much the same in Holland as in other +countries. Etiquette may differ in small details, but on the whole the +world of society lives the same life, cultivates the same interests, and +amuses or bores itself in much the same fashion. It is _tout comme chez +nous_ in this as in nearly everything else. + +On the whole, this elegant crowd shows a somewhat greater amount of +deference towards professionals than towards officials. Doctors, lawyers, +and parsons are clearly highly esteemed; it is the victory of intellect in +a fair field of encounter. In The Hague the officials beat them, but not +so much on account of their office as in consrquence of the fact that so +many are titled persons, highly connected and frequently well off. But +after the great Revolution and the Napoleonic times officialdom lost its +influence and social importance in Holland in consequence of the +demolition of the oligarchic, patrician Republic; and clause five of the +Netherlands constitution, which declares that 'Every Netherlander may be +appointed to every public office,' is a very real and true description of +the actual, visible facts of social life. + + + + +Chapter IV + +The Position of Women + + + +The Dutch woman, generally speaking, is not the 'new woman' in the sense +of taking any very definite part in the politics of the country. Neither +does she interest herself, or interfere, in ecclesiastical matters. +Dutchmen have not a very high opinion of the mental and administrative +qualities of their womenfolk outside of what is considered their sphere, +but for all that the women of the upper class are certainly more clever +than the men, but as they do not take any practical part in the questions +which are 'burning,' as far as any question does burn in this land of +dampness, their interest is academic rather than real. The wives of the +small shopkeeper, the artisan, and the peasant take much the same place as +women of these classes in other European countries. They are kind mothers, +thrifty housewives, very fond of their 'man,' not averse to the +fascinations of dress, and in their persons and houses extremely trim and +tidy, while the poorest quarters of the large towns are, compared with the +slums of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, pictures of neatness. It is +true that windows are seldom opened, for no Dutch window opens at the top, +and so in passing by an open door in the poor quarters of a town one gets +a whiff of an inside atmosphere which baffles description; but the inside +of the house is 'tidy,' and one can see the gleam of polished things, +telling of repeated rubbings, scrubbings, and scourings. In fact, +cleanliness in Holland has become almost a disease, and scrubbing and +banging go on from morning until night both outside and inside a house. + +Probably the abundant supply of water accounts for the universal washing, +for, not content with washing everything inside a house, they wash the +outside too, and even the bark of any trees which happen to lie within the +zone of operations. The plinths and bricks of the houses are scrubbed as +far as the arms can reach or a little hand-squirt can carry water. In +cottages both in town and country there is the same cleanliness, but the +people stop short of washing themselves, and the bath among the poorer +classes is practically unknown. People of this kind may not have had one +for thirty or forty years, and will receive the idea with derision and +look on the practice as a 'fad,' while the case of many animals is +seriously cited as an argument that it is quite unnecessary. A doctor told +me once of a rich old patient of the farming class near Utrecht who, on +being ordered a bath, said, 'Any amount of physic, but a bath--never!' On +the principle that you cannot do everything, personal cleanliness is apt +to go to the wall, and the energies of the Dutchwomen of the lower middle +and the poorer classes are concentrated on washing everything _inanimate,_ +even the brick footpath before the houses, which accounts for the clean +appearance of the Dutch streets in town and country. Even a heavy downpour +of rain does not interfere with the housewife's or servant's weekly +practice, and you will see servants holding up umbrellas while they wash +the fronts of the houses. This excessive cleanliness, together with the +other household duties of mother and wife, fills up the ordinary day, and +a newspaper or book is seldom seen in their hands. + +Passing on to the middle class, we find the mistress's time largely taken +up with directing the servants and bargaining with the tradesmen, who in +many cases bring their goods round from house to house. The lady of the +house takes care to lock up everything after the supplies for the day have +been given out, and the little basket full of keys which she carries about +with her is a study in itself. Even in the upper class this locking up is +a general practice, for very few people keep a housekeeper. The mistress +also takes care of the 'pot.' This is an ingenious but objectionable +device to make a guest pay for his dinner. On leaving a house after dining +you give one of the servants a florin, and all the money so collected is +put into a box, and at certain times is divided between the servants, so +that a servant on applying for a situation asks what is the value of the +'pot' in the year. There are signs of this practice of feeing servants +after a dinner being done away with, for it spoils the idea of +hospitality, and one's host on bidding you 'Good-bye' resorts to many +little artifices in order not to see that you do fee his servant, added to +which you are very likely to shake hands with him with the florin in your +hand, which you have been furtively trying to transfer to the left hand +from the right, and very often the guest drops the wretched coin in his +efforts to give it unseen. It is to be hoped that the ladies of Holland +will succeed in abolishing a custom which is disagreeable alike to +entertainer and entertained. + +The women of the upper middle class are certainly much better educated +than their English sisters. They always can speak another language than +their own, and very often two, French and English now being common, while +a few add German and a little Italian, but most of them read German, if +they do not speak it. French is universal, however, for the French novel +is far more to the taste than the more sober English book. The number and +quality of these French books read by the Dutch young lady are enough to +astonish and probably shock an English girl, who reads often with +difficulty the safe 'Daudet' ('Sapho' excepted), but the young Dutchwoman +knows of no _Index Expurgatorius,_ and reads what she likes. At the same +time the classics of England and Germany are very generally read and +valued, and many a Dutchwoman could pass a better examination on the text +and meaning of Shakespeare than the English-woman, whose knowledge is too +often limited to memories of the Cambridge texts of the great poets used +in schools. + +But, well educated as the Dutchwoman undoubtedly is, there is nothing +about her of the 'blue-stocking,' and she does not impress you as being +clever until a long acquaintance has brought out her many-sided knowledge. +The great pity is that her education leads to so little, for there are +very few channels into which a Dutchwoman can direct her knowledge. +Politics turn for the most part on differences in religions questions, +which are abstruse and dry to the feminine mind, and of practical +political life she sees nothing. There is no 'terrace,' no Primrose +League, no canvassing, no political _salon_, no excitement about +elections; and added to these negatives, women get snubbed if they venture +opinions on political matters, and young people generally look upon +politics _et hoc genus omne_ as a bore, and the names of the great +statesmen at the helm of affairs are frequently not even known by the +younger generation. Little interest is also taken in the army and navy, +owing to the fact that there is so little active service in the former and +to the smallness of the latter; and woman does not care much about +orders, regulations, manoeuvres and comparative strengths--she wants +'heroes,' and to know what they have done, and does not consider what the +'services' might, could, or should do. The officers who have served in +India and have seen active service rank high in her estimation, but as +these are few, beyond the affection bestowed upon soldier husband, +brother, or lover, which is chiefly displayed in anxiety lest they should +be sent to do garrison duty in some town where social advantages are small +or _nil_, there is no great interest taken in army affairs by the +Dutchwoman. As to the navy, they philosophically acquiesce in the fact +that as a ship must sail on the water they must patiently bear the +necessary separation from their sailor friends. + +When we come to things ecclesiastical there is still less interest taken +in the Church. The Roman Catholic Church is outside the question, for the +position of the laity there has been well described as 'kneeling in front +of the altar, sitting under the pulpit, and putting one's hand in one's +pocket without demur when money is required.' The Protestant laity, +however, do not take any great interest in the National Church, and while +there are deaconesses devoted to nursing and all good works, as there are +_soeurs de charite_ in the Roman communion, yet the rank and file of +Dutchwomen do not trouble about their church beyond attending it +occasionally--one may say, very occasionally. There is but little +brightness in the services of the Reformed Church, no ritual, no scope for +artistic work, no curates, and above and beyond ail, no career in the +Church for the clergy. At the best they may get sent to one of the large +towns, but the life is the same as in the village for the wife of the +'domine,' as the Dutch pastor is called. And if the domines move about in +fear and trembling because of the argus-eyes and often Midas-like ears of +the deacons, their wives must be still more discreet. One 'domine' has +been known to brave public opinion and ride a bicycle, but for a mother in +Israel to do the like would scandalize all good members of the Reformed +Church. The wives of the clergy, however, do good and useful work, and +probably are more real helpmeets to their husbands than women in any other +class of what may be called official life, but they take no sort of lead +in parochial or ecclesiastical matters. They do not direct the feminine +influences which do work in the parish, but rather take their place as one +of them. If, therefore, a woman marries a clergyman, she does so for love +of the man and his work's sake; there cannot be a tinge of ambition as to +the career of her husband, for there are no such things as comfortable +rectories and prospective deaneries or bishoprics, with their consequent +influence and power. Nothing but love of the man brings the 'domine' a +wife, and she knows that there will be inquisitorial eyes and not too kind +speeches about her behaviour from the 'faithful,' while the great people, +to their loss, will ignore her socially in much the same way as Queen +Elizabeth did the wives of the bishops in her day. + +Passing to lighter subjects, Dutch girls are now breaking loose from the +stiffness and espionage in which their mothers were brought up, and this +is without doubt in a large measure due to the introduction of sport. +Tennis, hockey, golf, and more especially bicycling have conferred, by +the force of circumstances, a freedom which strength of argument, +entreaty, and tears failed to effect. Mothers and and chaperons do not, +as a rule, bicycle, and play tennis and golf; they cannot always go to +club meetings, even to yawn through the sets, and so the young people +play by themselves, and there are fast growing a lack of restraint and a +healthy freedom of intercourse which are gravely deprecated by +grand-mammas, winked at by mothers, but enjoyed to the full by daughters. +But quidnuncs prophesy, however, that people will not marry as early as +of yore, for young people get to know one another too well by +unrestricted intercourse, and the halo with which each sex surrounds the +other is dispelled. Be this as it may, no Dutch girl wishes to go back to +the old days when she could go nowhere alone. + +Yet, however much men like to have women as companions in games, they are +not so willing to allow them much to say in matters which the masculine +mind considers its own province; for the fact is that most Dutchmen +consider women inferiors, and when there is a question of admittance into +literary or artistic circles and clubs, women's work has to be of an +undeniably high order. There are one or two ladies' clubs, but they do not +at present flourish, there being so few public platforms on which women +can meet, and so the 'social grade' determines women's relative position +by women's votes, and there is small chance of crossing the Rubicon then. +There is no doubt, however, that women in Holland are slowly winning their +way to greater independence of life. They are filling posts in public +offices; they are going to the universities; they are studying medicine +and qualifying as doctors; and no doubt they will in time compel men to +acknowledge their claims to live an independent life rather than a +dependent one. Besides, in Holland, as in other countries, the proportion +between the sexes is unequal, and so necessity will force open doors of +usefulness hitherto closed to women. + +The Dutchwoman dresses expensively in all the towns, and generally well. +The toilettes are mostly of a German model, which suits the build of the +Dutchwoman better than the fashions of Paris. Rarely, however, do women +dress in that simple style in vogue in English morning dress, and a Dutch +town or seaside resort is filled in the mornings with gay toilettes more +fitted for the Row or the Boulevard. Even when bicycling the majority do +not dress very simply. + +[Illustration: Dutch Fisher-Girls.] + +[Illustration: A Bridal Pair Driving Home.] + +Holland has always been noted for the variety and quaintness of its +provincial and even communal costumes, and these may all still be seen, +though they are dying out slowly. In some, and in fact many cases, a +modern bonnet is worn over a beautiful gold or silver headpiece, fringed +with lace, but ancient and modern do not in such cases harmonize. Of the +distinctly provincial costumes, that of Friesland is generally considered +the prettiest, but as illustrations are given of them all in a later +chapter, it must be left to the reader to decide the point for himself. +The fisherfolk more than any other retain their distinctive dress, +although even among them some of the children are habited according to +modern ideas, and certainly when the women are doomed to wear fourteen or +sixteen skirts, which have the effect of making them liable to pulmonary +complaints, it is surprising that modern fashions are not more generally +adopted. The plea for modernity in respect of Dutch national costumes is +considered rank heresy among artists, but the figures look better in a +picture and at a distance than in everyday life, added to which the custom +of cutting off or hiding the hair, which some of the head-dresses compel, +is not one to be encouraged; and it is a wonder that woman, who knows as a +rule her charms, has for so long consented to be deprived of one of the +chief ones. But in Holland, as in all countries where education is +spreading, cosmopolitanism in dress is increasing, and the picturesque +tends to give place to the convenient and in many cases the healthy. + +Marriage with all its preliminaries is woman's triumph, and in Holland she +makes the most of it. The manner of seeking a wife and proposing is no +doubt the same in the Netherlands as in other European countries, with the +exception of France; but once accepted, the happy man must resign himself +to the accustomed routine. First of all he exchanges rings, so that a man +who is engaged or married betrays the fact as well as a woman by a plain +gold ring worn on the third finger. A girl, therefore, has a better chance +against those who were 'deceivers ever' than in a country where no such +outward and visible sign exists. The engagement is announced by cards +being sent out, counter-signed by the parents on both sides, and a day is +fixed for receiving the congratulations. The betrothed are then considered +almost married. Engagements are, of course, frequently broken off, but +such a thing as an action for 'breach of promise' is impossible, and would +be considered most mercenary and mean. As a rule, engagements are not +long, and as soon as the wedding-day is agreed upon, the preceding +fortnight is filled with parties of various kinds, while there is another +great reception just before the wedding day, in which, as before, the +bride and bridegroom have to stand for hours receiving the congratulations +of their friends. Every now and then they will snatch a chance to sit +down, but another arrival brings them again to their feet, weary but +smiling. On the wedding morning the happy couple drive to the Town Hall; +for all marriages must first be celebrated by the civil authorities, and +so they appear before the Burgomaster, who says something appropriate, and +they make their vows and sign the papers, after which, if they desire it, +there is a service at the church which is called a 'Benediction,' at which +they are blessed, and have to listen to a long sermon, at the close of +which a Bible is given them. This sermon is not the least of the trying +experiences, for frequently many of the older members of the party are +reduced to tears by allusions to former members of the two families, and +all sorts of subjects alien to the particular service are introduced. At a +recent wedding known to me, the guests had to listen to a long address in +which the Transvaal War and the Paris Exhibition were commented upon. Not +only so, but no fewer than three collections are taken at the service, so +that people who desire to enter into the holy estate of matrimony must not +lack fortitude when they have made up their minds to it. + +But once married, a Dutch home is indeed 'Home, sweet home,' as is the +case more or less in all the northern countries, where the changeful +climate compels people to live a great deal within four walls. Dutch +fathers are kind, and the mothers are indulgent, and among the poorer +classes especially family affection is very great. Most beautiful and +touching instances might be abundantly quoted of family devotion, and a +society like that for the 'prevention of cruelty to children' would find +little to do in Holland. + + + + +Chapter V + +The Workman of the Towns + + + +The condition of the Dutch urban working classes is by no means an +enviable one. Granting that wages are much higher than half a century ago, +when bread cost fivepence-halfpenny the loaf as against three halfpence +to-day, and when clothes and furniture cost fifty per cent. more than now, +the average working-man cannot be otherwise described than as distinctly +poor when compared with his English colleague. Yet it would be misleading +to judge exclusively by the scale of wages, and against making comparisons +of the kind the reader should at once be warned. The fact is that there +are very wide divergences of condition amongst the working classes of +Holland. A carpenter or a blacksmith earning from L1 to L1 10s. in weekly +wages all the year round will rank, if sober and well-behaved, as a +comparatively well-to-do workman. On the other hand, a bricklayer or a +painter, whose work in winter is very uncertain, and who earns, maybe, a +bare L1 a week during the nine months of the year wherein he can find +work, is a poor workman at the best, and his condition is greatly to be +deplored. More pitiable still, however, is the case of working-class +families in some of the manufacturing towns, where wages are still lower, +and where an even tolerable standard of life cannot be maintained unless +mother and children take their place in the factory side by side with the +head of the household as regular wage-earners. + +For, as labour is cheap and families are numerous in Holland, as soon as +the boys and girls have reached the sacramental age of twelve, at which +Dutch law allows them to work twelve hours a day, they leave school, and +enter the factory and workshop. + +It is no joke for these children, who have to leave their little beds, +frequently under the tiles, at 5 or 6 a.m., or earlier, summer and winter, +to gulp down some hot coffee, or what is conveniently called so, to +swallow a huge piece of the well-known Dutch 'Roggebrood,' or rye-bread, +and then to hurry, in their wooden shoes, through the quiet streets of the +town to their place of work. + +Sometimes they have time to return home at 8 or 8.30 a.m. for a second +hurried 'breakfast,' which as often as not is their first, for many of +them start the day's work on an empty stomach. Those who cannot run home +and back in the half-hour usually allowed for the first 'Schaft,' or +meal-time, take their bread-and-butter with them in a cotton or linen bag, +and their milk-and-water or coffee in a tin, and so shift as well as they +can. Dinner-time, as a rule, finds the whole family united from about +twelve until one o'clock or half-past in the kitchen at home. This kitchen +is, of course, used for cooking, washing, dwelling, and sleeping purposes. +The walls are whitewashed, and the floor consists of flag-stones. Of +luxury there is none, of comfort little. Generally the fare of the day is +potatoes, with some vegetable, carrots, turnips, cabbage, or beans. A +piece of bacon, rarely some beef, is sometimes added; while mutton is +hardly ever eaten in Holland, unless by very poor people. Fish is too +expensive for most of them, except fried kippers or bloaters. If there is +time over, and the house has a little garden attached to it, the children +help by watering the vegetables growing there, should it be summer-time, +or by making themselves generally useful. But at 1 or 1.30 they have to be +back at the workshop, and until 7 p.m. the drudgery goes on again. On +Saturday evening the boy brings his sixpence, or whatever his trifling +wages may be, to his mother. Rent and the club-money for illness and +funeral expenses must be at hand when the collectors call either on Sunday +or Monday morning. As a rule, though the exceptions are numerous enough, +the father also brings his whole pay with him; but drink is the curse--a +decreasing curse, it may be, but still a curse--of many a workman's +family, and in such cases the inroads it makes in the domestic budget are +very serious. + +So the boys grow up, in a busy, monotonous life, until they are called +upon to subject themselves to compulsory military service. Before they +become recruits they have usually joined various societies--debating, +theatrical, social, political, or other. Arnold Toynbee has a good many +admirers and followers in Holland, who do yeoman's work after his spirit, +and bring bright, healthy pleasure into the lives of these youthful +toilers. Divines of all denominations, Protestant and Catholic, have also +their 'At homes' and their 'Congregations,' and innocent amusement is not +unseldom mixed with religious teaching at their meetings. In this way, +too, a helpful, restraining influence is exerted upon youth. And gradually +the boy becomes a young man, associating with other young men, and, like +his wealthier neighbours, discussing the world's affairs, dreaming of +drastic reforms, and thinking less and less of the dreary home, where +father and mother, grown old before their time, are little more than the +people with whom he boards, and who take the whole or part of his wages, +allowing him some modest pocket-money for himself. + +In the meantime his sisters have been living with some middle-class +family, starting as errand-girls, being afterwards promoted to the +important position of 'kindermeid' or children's maid, though all the time +sleeping out, which means that before and after having toiled a whole day +for strangers, they do part of the housework for their mothers at home. +After some time, however, they find employment as housemaids, or in other +domestic positions. If they have the good fortune to find considerate yet +strict and conscientious mistresses, the best time of their life now +begins; there is no exhaustion from work, yet good food, good lodging, and +kind treatment. Should they care to cultivate the fine art of cooking, +they get instruction in that line, and are in most cases allowed to work +independently, and even, when reliable and trustworthy, to do the buying +of vegetables, etc., by themselves in the market-places, which all Dutch +towns boast of, and in which the produce of the land is offered for sale +in abundance and appetizing freshness. All this tends to teach a +servant-girl how to use alike her eyes, hands, and brain, and to educate +her into a thrifty, industrious, and tidy workman's wife, who will know +how to make both ends meet, however short her resources may be. This is +one of the reasons why so many Dutch workmen's homes, notwithstanding the +low wages, have an appearance of snug prosperity--the women there have +learned how to make a little go a long way. + +And how about their future husbands? Have they, too, learned their trade? +Perhaps; if they are particularly strong, shrewd, industrious, and +persevering, though technical education ('ambachtsonderwys') is much a +thing of the future in Holland. + +In the general course of life a boy goes to a trade which offers him the +highest wages. If he can begin by earning eightpence a week, he will not +go elsewhere to earn sixpence if the wear and tear of shoes and clothes is +the same in both cases, although the sixpenny occupation may perhaps be +better suited to his tastes, ability, and general aptitude. To his mother +the extra two pence are a consideration; they may cover some weekly +contribution to a necessary fund. Running errands is his first work, until +accidentally some workman or some apprentice leaves the shop, in which +case he is moved up, and a new boy has the errands to do. But now he must +look out for himself; his master is not over-anxious to let him learn all +the ins and outs of the work, for as soon as his competitors hear that he +has a very clever boy in his shop, he is sure to lose that boy, who is +tempted away by the offer of better pay. Nor are the workmen greatly +inclined to impart their little secrets, to explain this thing and that, +and so help the young fellow on. Why should they? Nobody did it for them; +they got their qualifications by their own unaided exertions--let the boy +do the same. Moreover, the 'baas,' or chief, does not like them to 'waste +their time' in that manner, and the 'baas' is the dispenser of their +bread-and-butter; so the boy is, as a rule, regarded merely as a nuisance. + +There are workshops, first-class workshops, too, where no apprentices have +been admitted for dozens of years, simply because the employers do not see +their way to make an efficient agreement with the boys or their parents +which would prevent them from letting a competitor enjoy the results of +their technical instruction. One would not be astonished that in these +circumstances all over Holland the want of technical schools is badly +felt, and that agitation for their provision is active. Only some +twenty-four such schools exist at present; the oldest, that at Amsterdam, +dates from 1861, and the youngest, that of Nymegen, was established in +1900. Partly municipal schools, partly schools built by the private effort +of citizens, they all do their work well. It is only during the last few +years that the nation has begun to ask whether technical education ought +not to be taken up by the State. The Dutch like private enterprise in +everything, and are always inclined to prefer it to State or municipal +action; but they have come to recognize that technical schools may be good +schools, and may do good work on behalf of the much-needed improvement of +handicraft, even though not private ventures, and that so far this branch +of national education has not kept up with the times. + +The idea which will probably in the end gain the day, is that the +Technical Schools should be managed by the town councils and subsidized by +the State, who in return would receive the right of supervision and +inspection, and of laying down general rules for their curricula. For the +present, however, there is no law settling the question, and the +apprentices are the sufferers by the lack, since the employers shrink from +employing their means, time, and knowledge on behalf of unscrupulous +competitors. + +In general the life of an urban working-man is a constant struggle against +poverty and sickness. Children come plentifully, rather too much so for +the unelastic possibilities of their parents' wages. The young wife does +not get stronger by frequent confinements; and the fare is bound to get +less nourishing as the mouths round the domestic board increase--always +simple, it often becomes insufficient. The mother, working hard already, +has to work harder still and to do laundry work at home or go out as a +charwoman, in order to increase the modest income. In industrial centres +women frequently work in the factories as well, though the law does at +least protect them against too long hours and premature work after +confinement. + +Thanks to the Dutch thrift, burial funds and sickness funds come promptly +to the rescue when death lays his iron grip on the wasted form of the poor +town-bred babies, when illness saps the man's power to earn his usual +wages, and the family's income is for the time cut off. Of these benefit +funds there are about 450 in Holland, distributed amongst some 150 towns. +Half of them are burial funds, and half mixed burial and sickness funds; +their members number about two millions; yet, although they certainly do +much to prevent extreme poverty, they do it in a manner which in many +cases is little short of a scandal. Their legal status is rather +uncertain, and in consequence many managers do as they like, and make a +good thing for themselves out of their duty to the poor. Too often these +managers are supreme controllers of the funds, and the members have no +influence whatever. In many cases the only official the latter know is the +collector, who calls at their houses for the weekly contributions. This +official frequently resorts to questionable tricks for extorting money +from the poor helpless members, who simply and confidently pay what they +are told to pay--small sums, of course, a few cents or pence, it may be, +but still 'adding up' in the long run--and when sorrow and death enter +their humble dwellings they are easily imposed upon by cool scoundrels, +who trade on their disinclination to quarrel about money when there is a +corpse in the house. + +Another danger of the irregular condition of these funds lies in the fact +that outsiders may take out policies on the lives of certain families. A +few years ago the country was shocked by the alarming story of a woman who +had poisoned a series of persons merely to be able to get the funeral +expenses paid to herself, while many a wretched little baby has in this +manner been the horrible investment of heartless neighbours, who, knowing +the poor thing was dying, took out policies for its funeral. For medical +examination is not required for these beautifully managed associations. +Their premiums are, however, so high that this detail does not materially +affect their sound financial position; and this being the case, it cannot +be denied that the absence of such examinations considerably increases +their general utility for the labouring classes. + +[Illustration: A Dutch Street Scene.] + +The clubs for preventing financial loss by illness do require a medical +examination. They number in Holland nearly 700, distributed in over 300 +towns. Some allow a fixed sum of money during illness, others provide +doctor and medicines, others do both. But the same objections and +grievances which workmen entertain against burial funds apply likewise to +these latter clubs. The curious thing is that, instead of grumbling, the +workman does not make up his mind to mend matters by insisting on having a +share in the management of societies and funds to which he has contributed +so large a part of his earnings. As yet, however, the Dutch labouring +classes have not found the man who is able to organize them for this or +other purposes. They have able advocates, eloquent, passionate reformers, +straightforward, honest friends, but the work of these is more destructive +criticism than constructive organization. Where organization exists, it is +political, social, religious, but not industrial--local, but not +universal, and it often has the bitter suggestion of charity. On the other +hand, the poor fellows have so often been imposed upon that they feel very +little confidence in each other and in the wealthier classes who profess +deep interest in their woes and sorrows. There are no very large +industrial centres in Holland; the wages are so low that most workmen are +obliged to find supplementary incomes, either by doing overtime, or by +doing odd jobs after the regular day's work is over. Hence there is not +much time or energy left for the common cause. Some great employers, like +Mr. J.C. van Marken, of Delft, and Messrs. Stork Brothers, of Hengeloo, +have organizations of their own, by which important ameliorations are +obtained; but smaller employers hear the labour leaders constantly +deprecating such efforts and preaching the blessings of Social Democracy +as the true panacea, so they do not see why they should put themselves to +any inconvenience or expense for the sake of earning abuse and +ingratitude. + +Moreover, many of these employers adhere to the obsolete maxim of the +Manchester economists, that labour is merely a sort of merchandise, of +which the workman keeps a certain stock-in-trade, and that the +capitalist's simple task, as a man of business, is to buy that labour as +cheaply as possible, and that he has done with the seller as soon as his +stock-in-trade is exhausted. Happily, a good many others understand now +that in the long run this ridiculous theory is quite as bad for the State +as killing was for the fowl which laid the golden eggs. + +At all events, the feelings of the workman for his 'patroon,' as the old +name still in use calls the employer, are none of the kindest. Sweating is +a much less common occurrence in Holland than it was some twenty years +ago; but while it would be mere demagogic clap-trap to speak of the +remorseless exhaustion of labour by capital, there is nevertheless room +enough for the cultivation of greater amenity between the two. And so it +will remain for some time to come. Social legislation may do a great deal +in the course of time, but it cannot do everything, and at best it must +follow the awakening of the popular conscience. Hence progress must be +made step by step, for nothing is so menacing to the stability of the +social fabric as sudden changes, and a wise statesman prefers to let every +one of his acts do its own work, and produce its own consequences, before +he risks the next move. The disintegration of social life is much worse +than social misery, for disintegration makes misery universal, and throws +innumerable obstacles in the way towards restoration. + +And, however much the Dutch understand the workman's feelings and +position, however much they all long to see the latter improved, they also +have learned enough of social and political history to know that for the +community in general the only wise and safe principle of action is +progress by degrees--evolution, not revolution. + + + + +Chapter VI + +The Canals and Their Population + + + +When Drusus a few years before the commencement of our era excavated the +Yssel canal, and thus gave a new arm to the Rhine, he began a process of +canalization in the Frisian and Batavian provinces which has been going on +more or less ever since. To the foreigner Holland or the Northern +Netherlands must always appear a land of dykes and canals, the one not +more important for protection than the other as an artery of +communication; spreading commerce and supporting national life. Napoleon, +with _naive_ comprehensiveness, called Holland the alluvion of French +rivers. Dutch patriots declare with legitimate pride, 'God gave us the +sea, but we made the shore,' and no one who has seen the artificial +barrier that guards the mainland from the Hook to the Texel will disparage +their achievement or scoff at their pretensions. + +[Illustration: A Sea-Going Canal.] + +The sea-dyke saves Holland from the Northern Ocean, sombre and grey in its +most genial mood, menacing and stormy for the long winter of our northern +hemisphere; but it is to the inland dykes that protect the low-lying +polders that Holland owes her prosperity and the sources of wealth which +have made her inhabitants a nation. The original character of the country, +a marshland intersected by the numerous channels of the Rhine and the +Meuse, rendered it imperative that the System of dykes should be +accompanied by a brother system of canals. The over-abundant waters had +not merely to be arrested, they had to be confined and led off into +prepared channels. In this manner also they were made to serve the +purposes of man. High-roads across swamps were either impracticable or too +costly; but canals furnished a sure and convenient means of transport and +communication. + +At the same time they did not imperil the security of the country. Roads +on causeways or reared on sunken piles would have opened the door to an +invader, but the canals provided an additional weapon of defence, for the +opening of the dykes sufficed to turn the country again into its primeval +state of marshland. The occasion on which this measure alone saved +Holland during the French invasion of 1670 is a well-known passage in +history, and the hopes of the Dutch in resisting the attack of any +powerful aggressor would centre in the same measure of defence, which is +the submerging of the country, practically speaking, under the waters of +the canals and rivers. There exists a popular belief that there is at +Amsterdam one master key, a turn of which would let loose the waters over +the land, but whether it is well founded or not no one except a very few +officials can say. + +Pending any unfortunate necessity for breaking through the dykes and +letting loose the waters, it may be observed in passing that the effectual +maintenance of the dykes is a constant anxiety, and entails strenuous +exertions. They stand in need of repeated repairing, and it is computed +that they are completely reconstructed in the course of every four or five +years. A sum of nearly a million sterling is spent annually on the work. +A large and specially trained staff of engineers are in unceasing harness, +a numerous band of dyke watchers are constantly on the look-out, and when +they raise the shout, 'Come out! come out!' not a man, woman, or child +must hold back from the summons to strengthen the weak points through +which threatens to pass the flood that would overwhelm the land. It is a +constant struggle with nature, in which the victory rests with man. As the +dyke is the bulwark of Dutch prosperity in peace, it might be converted +into the ally of despairing patriotism in war. + +There are marked differences among the canals. The two largest and best +known canals, the North Canal and the North Sea Canal, are passages to the +ocean for the largest ships, and specially intended to benefit the trade +of Amsterdam. The North Canal was made in 1819-25, soon after the +restoration of the House of Orange, with an outlet at Helder, near the +mouth of the Texel. It has a breadth of between 40 and 50 yards, a length +of 50 miles, and a depth of 20 feet, which was then thought ample. After +forty years' use this canal was found inadequate from every point of view. +It was accordingly decided to construct a new canal direct from Amsterdam +to Ymuiden across the narrowest strip of Holland. Although the Y was +utilized, the labour on this canal was immense, and occupied a period of +eleven years, being finally thrown open to navigation in 1877. In length +it is under 16 miles, but its average breadth is 100 yards, and the depth +varies from 23 to 27 feet. Consequently the largest ships from America or +the Indies can reach the wharves of Amsterdam as easily as if it were a +port on the sea-coast. Leaving aside the sea-passages that have been +canalized among the islands of Zeeland, the remaining canals are inland +waterways serving as the principal highways of the country, giving one +part of the country access to the other, and especially serving as +approaches or lanes to the great rivers Meuse and Rhine. + +[Illustration: A Village in Dyke-Land.] + +The interesting canal population of Holland is, of course, to be found on +these canals, which are traversed in unceasing flow from year's end to +year's end by the tjalks, or national barges. On these boats, which more +resemble a lugger than a barge, they navigate not only the canals of their +own country, but the Rhine up to Coblentz, and even above that place. It +has been computed that Germany imports half its food-supply through +Rotterdam, and much of this is borne to its destined markets on tjalks. +The William Canal connects Bois le Duc with Limburg, and saves the great +bend of the Meuse. The Yssel connects with the Drenthe the Orange and the +Reitdiep canals, which convey to the Rhine the produce of remote Groningen +and Friesland. The Rhine represents the destination of the bulk of the +permanent canal population of Holland, whose floating habitations furnish +one of the most interesting sights to be met with on the waters of the +country, but which represent one of the secret phases of the people's +life, into which few tourists or visitors have the opportunity of peering. + +The canal population of Holland is fixed on a moderate computation at +50,000 persons. For this number of persons the barge represents the only +fixed home, and the year passes in ceaseless movement across the inland +waters of the country or on the great German river, excepting for the +brief interval when the canals are frozen over in the depth of winter. +Even during these periods of enforced idleness the barge does not the less +continue to be their home, for the simple reason that the canal population +possesses no other. Their whole life for generations, the bringing up and +education of the children, the years of toil from youth to old age, are +passed on these barges, which, varying in size and still more in +condition, are as closely identified with the name of home in their +owners' minds as if they were built of brick and stone on firm land. The +ambition of the youth who tugs at the rope is to possess a tjalk of his +own, and he diligently looks out for the maiden whose dowry will assist +him, with his own savings, to make the purchase. This he may hope to +procure for five or six hundred gulden, if he will be content with one of +limited dimensions, and somewhat marked by time. When a family comes he +will want a larger and more commodious boat, but by that time the profits +which his first tjalk will have earned as a carrier will go far towards +buying a second. + +The tjalks are all built in the same form and from a common model. They +carry a mast and sail, although for the greater part of their journeys +they are towed by their owners, or rather by the familles, wife and +children, of the owner. Mynheer, the barge-owner, is usually to be seen +smoking his pipe and taking his ease near the tiller. Formerly it was +otherwise, for the towing was done by dogs, under the personal direction +of, and no doubt with some assistance from, the barge-owner himself, while +his wife and children remained on the poop of the boat. But five and +twenty years ago the authorities of Amsterdam issued a law prohibiting the +employment of dogs in the work of towing, and gradually this law was +generally adopted and enforced throughout the country. When dogs were +emancipated from their servitude on the canal-bank the family had to take +their places, and by degrees the ease-loving head of the family has grown +content to look on and think towing a labour reflecting on his dignity. +There is nothing unusual in the sight of a barge being towed by an old +woman, her daughter or daughter-in-law, and several children. As they +strain at the rope the work seems extremely hard, but the people +themselves appear unconscious of any hardship or inequality in the +distribution of labour. + +The barge is in the first place a conveyance. The whole of the front part +of the boat represents the hold in which the cargo is placed. This is +generally represented by cheese or vegetables, timber, peat, and stones, +the last-named being a return-cargo for the repairing of dykes and the +construction of quays. But in the second place it is a house or place of +residence, and the stern of the boat is given up for that purpose. The +living room is the raised deck or poop, on which is not only the tiller, +but the cooking-stove. The sleeping-room forms the one covered-in +apartment. It is easily divisible into two by a temporary or removable +partition, and it always possesses the two little windows, one on each +side of the tiller, which give it so great a resemblance to a doll's +house. This resemblance is certainly heightened by the custom of colouring +the barges, which are always painted a bright colour, red or green being +perhaps the most usual. As ornament there is usually a good deal of +brasswork; the handle of the tiller is generally bordered with the metal, +and the owner seems to take pride in nailing brass along the bulwarks of +his boat where it is not wanted and is even little seen. It has been +suggested that the polishing of these brass plates or bars provides a +pleasant change from the dull routine work of towing. The brightness of +the paint and the brasswork constitutes the pride of the barge-owners, and +supplies a standard of comparison among them. + +To increase the homelike aspect of this water residence, birds and plants, +always in more or less quantity and variety, are to be seen either in the +windows or on the deck. The poorest bargee, which generally means the +youngest or the beginner, will have one song-bird in a gilt cage, and as +he accumulates money in his really profitable calling, he will add to his +collection of birds a row of flowers and bulbs in pots. Thus he says, with +a glow of satisfaction, 'I possess an aviary and a garden, like my cousin +Hans on the polders, although my home is on the moving waters.' To +strengthen the illusion what does he do but fix a toy gate on the poop +above his sleeping-cabin, and thus cherishes the belief that he is on his +own domain? In the evening, when the towing is over for the day, the women +bring out their sewing, the children play round the tiller, and the good +man smokes his immense pipe with complete and indolent satisfaction. And +so day passes on to day without a variation, and life runs by without a +ripple or a murmur for the canal population, while the mere landsmen look +on with envy at what seems to them an idyllic existence, and even ladies +of breeding and high station have been known to declare that they would +gladly change places with the mistress of the bargee's quarter-deck. That +was no doubt in the days before women had to take on themselves the brunt +and burden of the towing. + +[Illustration: A Canal in Dordrecht.] + +But even for the canal population of Holland the halcyon days are past. +The spirit of reform is in the air. It may not be long before the tjalk, +with its doll's house and its residential population, will finally +disappear, and leave the canals of Holland as dull and colourless as the +inland waters of any other country. The reform seems likely to come about +in this way. There are at least 30,000 children resident on the +canal-boats. How are they to be properly educated and brought up as useful +citizens if they are to continue to lead a migratory existence which never +leaves them for a fortnight in a single place? Formerly, nobody cared +whether they were educated or not. They were left undisturbed to live +their lives in their own simple and primitive way. As De Amicis wrote: +'The children are born and grow up on the water; the boat carries all +their small belongings, their domestic affections, their past, their +present, and their future. They labour and save, and after many years they +buy a larger boat, selling the old one to a family poorer than themselves, +or handing it over to the eldest son, who in his turn instals his wife, +taken from another boat, and seen for the first time in a chance meeting +on the canal.' But now the State has begun to interest itself in the +children, and its intervention threatens to put a rude and summary ending +to the system of heredity and exclusion which has kept the canal +population a class apart. + +For some time past schools have been in existence, especially devoted to +the education of the barge children, and whenever the barges are moored in +harbour the children are expected to attend them. But these periods of +halting are very brief and uncertain. The stationary barge earns no money, +and it may even be that the parents evade the law as far as possible for +fear of seeing their children acquire a distaste for the life in which +they have been brought up. But the Government, having taken one step in +the matter, cannot afford to go back, and it must also have definite +satisfactory results to show for its legislation. The tentative measure of +temporary schools along the canals has not leavened the illiteracy of the +canal population. It will, therefore, become necessary at no great +interval to devise some fresh and drastic regulations. Compulsory +attendance at school for nine months of the year, which now applies to +children in normal circumstances, may not be the lot of the barge children +for some time, but when it comes, as it inevitably will one day, it will +of necessity mean the break-up of the home life on the canals, for the +children will have to be left behind during the almost unceasing voyages, +and a place of residence will have to be provided on land. Where the +children are the women will soon be, and gradually this place of residence +will become the home, displacing the barge in the associations and +affections of the canal population. Whether these changes will benefit +those most affected by them cannot be guaranteed, but at least they will +put an end to the separate existence of the canal population. + +When this result has been compassed by the inexorable progress of +education and knowledge, the gradual disappearance of the canal +population, the class of hereditary bargees as we have known it, and as it +still exists, may be expected to follow at no remote date, for it was +based on the enforcement of the family principle, and on the devotion of a +whole community, from its youngest to its eldest member, to its +maintenance. As it is the tow-barge is something of an anachronism, but +the withdrawal of the youthful recruits, whose up-bringing alone rendered +it possible, will entail its inevitable extinction. The decay and break-up +of the guild of tjalk owners will be hastened by the introduction of steam +and electricity as means of locomotion. The canals will lose the +bright-coloured barges which are to-day their most striking feature, and +the population that has so long floated over their surface. Life will be +duller and more monotonous. The canal population, so long distinct, will +be merged in the rest of the community. The tug will displace the +tow-rope. The pullers will be housed on land, mastering the three R's +instead of learning to strain at the girth. + +But there is still a brief period left during which the canal population +may be seen in its original primitive existence, devoted to the barge, +which is the only home known to six or seven thousand families, and +traversing the water roads of their country in unceasing and endless +progression. There is nothing like it in any other country of Europe. +Venice has its water routes, but the gondola is not a domicile. There was +a canal population in England, but, like much else in our modern life, it +has lost whatever picturesqueness it might once have claimed. For a true +canal population, bright and happy, living the same life from father to +son and generation to generation, we must go to Holland. There these +inland navigators ply their vocation with only one ambition, and that to +become the owner of a tjalk, and to rear thereon a family of towers. It is +said that the life is one that requires the consumption of unlimited +quantitics of 'schnapps,' and the humidity of the atmosphere is undoubted. +But even free libations do not diminish the prosperity of the bargees. +They are a thriving race, and it must also be noted to their credit that +they are well behaved, and not given to quarrels. Collisions on the +thickly-covered canals are rare; malicious collisions are unknown. The +barges pass and repass without hindrance, the tow-ropes never get +entangled, there is mutual forbearance, and the skill derived from long +experience in slipping the ropes uncler the barges does the rest. The +conditions under which the canal population exists and thrives are a +survival of an older order of things. When they disappear another of the +few picturesque heritages of mediaeval life will have been removecl from +the hurly-burly and fierce competition of modern existence. + + + + +Chapter VII + +A Dutch Village + + + +Villages in Holland are towns in miniature, for the simple reason that +when you have a marsh to live in you drain a part of it and build on that +part, and so build in streets, and do not form a village as in England, by +houses dotted here and there round a green or down leafy lanes. The +village green in Holland is the village street or square in front of the +church or 'Raadhuis.' Here the children play, for you cannot play in a +swamp, and that is what polder land is seven months out of the year, and +so we find that a Dutch village in most parts of the country is a town in +miniature. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +Thirty years ago the 'Raadhuis' would have been the village inn, barber's +shop, and the principal hotel all rolled into one, and the innkeeper, as a +natural consequence, the wealthiest man in the neighbourhood. The farmers +would have sat at the 'Raad,' i.e. the Village Council, with their caps +over their eyes, long Gouda pipes in their mouths, and a 'Glaasje Klare' +('Schiedam') under their chairs which they would have steadily sipped at +intervals, puffing at their pipes during the whole sitting. Their wooden +shoes ('Klompen'), scrubbed for the occasion to a brilliant white with the +help of a good layer of whitening, might have been seen in a row standing +on the door-mat, for no well-educated farmer would ever have dreamed of +entering a room with shoes on his feet, and he would have taken his +'pruim,' or quid of tobacco, which every farmer chews even when smoking, +out of his mouth and laid it on the window-sill, the usual receptacle for +such things, and there it would lie in its own little circle of brown +fluid, to be replaced either in his own or his neighbour's mouth after the +meeting was over. Nowadays a farmer goes to the 'Raad' dressed in a suit +of black clothes and with his feet encased in leather boots. He never +wears 'Klompen' save when at work in the field or on the farm. He also +talks of his 'Gemeente,' for all Holland is portioned off into +'Gemeenten,' and a village is such in as good a sense as large towns like +The Hague and Amsterdam, and better if anything, for the taxes there are +not so high. Each 'Gemeente' is separately governed by a Burgomaster and +'Leden van den Raad', which is nothing more nor less than a County +Council, presided over by a prominent man nominated by the sovereign, and +not elected by the members, of which some are called 'Wethouders,' and +are, like the other members, elected by the residents of the district. +These Wethouders, with the Burgomaster, form the 'Dagelyksch Bestuur.' All +ordinary matters concerning the 'Gemeente,' such as giving information to +the Minister of War about the men who have signed for the militia, or +about any person living in their 'Gemeenten,' are regulated by the +'Dagelyksch Bestuur,' though matters of import are brought before the +'Raad.' Next in importance to the Burgomaster come the 'Gemeenteontvanger,' +who receives all the taxes, and the 'Notary, who is the busiest man in the +village, although the doctor and clergyman or priest have a large share in +the work of contributing to the welfare of the villagers. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +A village clergyman is an important person, for he is held in high honour +by his parishioners, and his larder is always well stocked free of cost. +His income also is relatively larger than that of a town pastor, for +besides his fixed salary he reaps a nice little revenue from the pastures +belonging to the 'Pastorie,' which he lets out to farmers. The +schoolmaster, on the contrary, is treated with but little consideration, +and he often feels decidedly like a fish out of water, for though +belonging by birth to the labouring class, he is too well educated to +associate with his former companions and yet not sufficiently refined to +move in the village 'society,' besides which he would not be able to +return hospitality, as his salary only amounts to from L40 to L60 a year, +and nowhere is the principle of reciprocity more observed than in Dutch +hospitality in certain classes. In very small villages many offices are +combined in one person, and so we find a prominent inhabitant blacksmith, +painter, and carpenter, while the baker's shop is a kind of universal +provider for the villagers' simple wants. The butcher is the only person +who is the man of one occupation, though he, too, goes round to the +neighbouring farms to help in the slaughtering of the cattle, and +sometimes lends a hand in the salting and storing of the meat. + +The farmers live just outside the village, and only come there when they +go to the 'Raad' or on Saturday evenings when the week's work is done. +They then visit the barber before meeting at the _cafe_ for their weekly +game of billiards. Every resident of the village also betakes himself to +his 'club' or 'Societeit' on Saturday night, and just as the 'Mindere +man,' i.e. farmers and labourers, have their games and discuss their +farms, their cattle, and the price of hay or corn, so, too, the +'Notabelen' discuss every subject under the sun, not forgetting their dear +neighbours. + +On Sunday mornings the whole 'Gemeente' goes to church, from the +Burgomaster to the poorest farm-labourer, and all are dressed in their +best. The men of the village have put aside their working-clothes, and +are attired in blue or black cloth suits with white shirt fronts and +coloured ties. The women have donned black dresses, caps and shawls, and +carry their scent-bottles, peppermints, and 'Gezangboek' (hymn-book) with +large golden clasps. The 'Stovenzetster,' a woman who acts as verger, +shows the good people to their seats and provides the women, if the +weather is cold, with 'warme stoven' (hot stoves), to keep their feet +comfortable. These little 'stoves' contain little three-cornered green or +brown pots ('testen'), in which pieces of glowing peat are put, and +sometimes when the peat is not quite red-hot it smokes terribly, and +gives a most unpleasant odour to the building. The women survive it, +however, by resorting to their _eau de Cologne,_ which they sprinkle upon +their handkerchiefs, and keep passing to their neighbours during the +whole service. + +The village schoolmaster has a special office to perform in the Sunday +service. It is he who reads a 'chapter' to them before the entrance of the +clergyman, who only comes when service has begun. Then the sermon, which +is the chief part of the service in Dutch churches, begins. This sermon is +very long, and the congregation sleep through the first part very +peacefully, but the rest is not for long, for when the domine has spoken +for about three-quarters of an hour he calls upon his congregation to sing +a verse of some particular psalm. The schoolmaster starts the singing, +which goes very slowly, each note lasting at least four beats, so that the +tune is completely lost. However, as a rule, every one sings a different +tune, and nobody knows which is the right one. Two collections are taken +during the service, one for the poor and one for the church, the +schoolmaster and the elders ('Ouderlingen') of the church going round with +little bags tied to very long sticks, which they pass ail along a row in +which to receive the 'gifts.' Generally one cent is given by each of the +congregation. + +[Illustration: Approach to an Overyssel Farm.] + +After church is over the Sunday lunch takes the next place in the day's +routine. The table is always more carefully set out on Sundays than on +other days, and to the usual fare of bread, butter, and cheese are added +smoked beef and cake, while the coffee-pot stands on the 'Komfoortje' (a +square porcelain stand with a little light inside to keep the pot hot), +and the sugar-pot contains white sugar as a Sunday treat, for sugar is +very dear in Holland, and cannot form an article of daily consumption. +Servants always make an agreement about sugar; hence on week-days a supply +of 'brokken' (sweets something like toffee, and costing about a penny for +three English ounces) is kept in the sugar-pot, and when the people drink +coffee they put a 'brok' in their mouths and suck it. Should their cup be +emptied before the 'brok' is finished, they replace it on their saucers +till a second cup is poured out for them, and if they do not take a second +cup, then their 'brok' is put back into the sugar-pot again. + +After lunch the men now find their way to the 'Societeit,' or in summer to +the village street, where they walk about in their shirt-sleeves and +smoke. The children go to their Sunday schools, or, if they are Roman +Catholics, to their 'Leering,' which is a Bible-class held for them in +church, and in villages where there is no Sunday school they, too, +leisurely perambulate the village dressed in their best clothes, even if +it is a wet day. The women first clear away the lunch utensils, and then +have a little undisturbed chat with their neighbours on the doorstep, or +go to see their friends in town. At four o'clock the whole family +assembles again in the parlour for their 'Borreltje,' either consisting of +'Boerenjongens' (brandied raisins) or 'Brandewyn met suiker' (brandy with +sugar), which they drink out of their best glasses. There is no church in +the evening, so the villagers retire early to bed, so as to be in good +trim for the week's hard work again. + +From this sketch it will be judged that life in a village is very dull. +There is nothing to break the monotony of the days, and one season passes +by in precisely the same way as another. Days and seasons, in fact, make +no difference whatever in the villager's existence. There is no pack of +hounds to fire the sporting instinct; no excitement of elections; no +distraction of any kind. All is quiet, regular, and uneventful, and when +their days are over they sleep with their fathers naturally enough, for +only too often have they been half asleep all their lives. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +The Peasant at Home + + + +To describe an 'average' Dutch peasant would be to say very little of him. +There is far too much difference in this class of people all over the +Netherlands to allow of any generalization. In Zeeland we meet two +distinct types; one very much akin to the Spanish race, having a +Spaniard's dark hair, dark eyes, and sallow complexion, and often very +good-looking. The other type is entirely different, fair-haired, +light-eyed, and of no particular beauty. In Limburg, the most southern +province of the Netherlands, one finds a mixture of the German, Flemish, +and Dutch types, and the language there is a dialect formed from all those +three tongues, while in the most northern province, Groningen, the people +speak a dialect resembling that spoken in Overyssel and Gelderland, and +the Frisians, their neighbours, would feel themselves quite strangers in +the last named provinces, and would not even be able to make themselves +understood when speaking in their usual language. In the Betuwe the +dialect spoken differs from that in the Veluwe, but no distinct line can +be drawn to determine where one dialect begins and the other ends. + +In their mode of dressing, too, there is a great difference between the +people of one province and of another, and in Zeeland every island has +its own special costume. Just as they differ in dress, so they also differ +in appearance and education, wealth, and civilization. + +A North Holland farmer is well-to-do and independent. For centuries he has +battled and disputed every inch of his land with the sea, and it has been +pointed out by observant people that the effects of the strife are still +marked in his harsh and rugged features and independent ways. It is well +known that his cattle are the best in all the country, for the pastures, +by reason of the damp polder ground, are very rich, and yield year out +year in an abundant crop of grass and hay, the cows he keeps for milking +purposes giving from 20 to 30 litres, or from 45 to 70 pints, of milk a +day, which is a very high yield. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Costume.] + +The 'Vrye Fries'--for the Frisian congratulates himself on never having +been conquered, but always having in days of war and tribal feud made his +own terms more or less with an adversary--stands higher in culture and +intellect, and is also more enterprising, than the great majority of the +Dutch peasants. He welcomes many inventions, and is willing to risk +something in trying them, and so one can see many kinds of machinery in +use on the Frisian farms. He also works with the most modern and approved +artificial manures. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Costumes.] + +The Groningen and Overyssel boer[Footnote: Peasant and farmer as a rule +are convertible terms. A farmer is a peasant, although a peasant is not +always the owner of a farm. In point of education the farmer himself does +not differ from the average labourer on his farm, and both alike are +classed as 'boeren.'] follows his example unless the farms are so small as +to make large machinery impracticable, when he goes along the path marked +out by his great-grandfather, and finds safety, if not novelty, in so +doing. All over the north of Holland the cows are good, and there is milk, +butter, and cheese in abundance at the markets, especially the two +last-named articles, as nearly all the milk is sent to the +'Zuivelfabrieken,' as butter and cheese factories are called. + +Travelling from north to south, and so reaching the Wilhelminapolder in +Zeeland, we come across the steam-plough, but that is the only place in +the Netherlands where it is in use. The further south one goes--Zeeland +excepted--the lower becomes the standard of life, and the peasants seem to +care for little else than their fields and cattle, while the people of +Noord Brabant are the poorest and dirtiest of them all. The produce of the +soil varies according to the ground cultivated. In Utrecht and Brabant +many thousand acres are devoted to tobacco, while Overyssel and +Gelderland, as a rule, grow rye, oats, buckwheat, and flax. In Drenthe the +greater part of the province yields peat, and North and South Holland are +famous all over the world for their rich pastures. Cabbages and +cauliflowers are also extensively cultivated for exportation, and in +Friesland they have begun to cultivate them also. From Wateringen to the +Hoek van Holland one sees smiling orchards, while from Leyden to Haarlem +blossom the world-famed bulb fields, too well known to need special +description. + +The farm-work is done in the spring and summer. The women invariably help +with the lighter work of weeding in the fields, while in harvest-time +they work as hard as the men, and very picturesque they look in their +broad black hats and white linen skirts. But when the harvest is gathered +in, and the pigs have been converted into hams and sausages, the man's +chief labour is over, although the manuring of the land and the threshing +of the corn have to be attended to. Still, he has his evenings wherein to +sit by the fireside and smoke, presumably gathering energies the while +for the coming spring. A woman's work, however, is never ended, for +while the man smokes she spins the flax grown on her own ground and the +wool from the sheep of the farm. In some parts of Overyssel it is still +the custom for the women to meet together at some neighbouring friend's +house to spin, and during these sociable evenings they partake of the +'spinning-meal,' which consists of currant bread and coffee, and in turn +sing and tell stories. + +A weaver always visits every house once a year with his own loom to assist +at these gatherings, and when the linen is woven it is rolled up and tied +with coloured ribbons, decorated with artificial flowers, and kept in the +linen-press--the pride of every Dutch housewife--and when a daughter of +the house marries several rolls of this linen are added to her trousseau. +The wealth of a farm is, in fact, calculated by the number of rolls. These +are handed down for generations, and often contain linen more than a +hundred years old. The wool, when woven, is made up into thick petticoats, +of which every well-dressed peasant woman wears six or seven. + +The education of the farmer is not very liberal. A child generally goes to +school until he is twelve years of age, and during that time he has learnt +reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a rule, however, he does not attend +regularly, as his help is so often wanted at home, especially at +harvest-time, and although the new education law--the 'Leerplichtwet' of +July 7th, 1901--has made school attendance compulsory, yet a child is +allowed to remain at home when wanted if he has attended school regularly +during the six previous months. The interest of the parent and the +inclination of the child are thus combined to the retarding of the +intellectual progress of the boer. And yet, although they are so badly +taught, the peasantry have a very good opinion about things in general, +and if you assist them in their work and show them that you can use your +hands as well as they can they have great respect for you, and will listen +to anything you like to tell them about or read to them. The women +especially have very pronounced views of their own, a trait not confined +to Netherland womenfolk. To go about among them is at present the best way +of educating them, and when you have once won their regard they will go +through fire and water for you; but they despise any one who 'does +nothing,' for, like most manual workers, they do not understand that +brain-work is as hard as manual labour. + +[Illustration: An Itinerant Linen-Weaver.] + +[Illustration: Farmhouse Interior, showing the Linen-Press.] + +The farmhouses in most parts of the country are neat and more or less of a +pattern, although they differ in minor details. Outside their appearance +is very quaint and picturesque, and the roofs are either thatched or +tiled. In Groningen they now hardly resemble farms. They are, indeed, +little country seats, and the interior is decidedly modern. Some of the +very poorest-looking houses are to be found in Overyssel and Drenthe. +These are built of clay, and stand halfway in the ground. The roofs are +covered with sods taken from the 'Drentsche Veengronden.' Some of these +'Plaggewoningen,' as they are called, are not more than twelve feet square +and eight feet high. The ceiling of the room inside the dwelling is only +four or five feet high, and above this the stores of hay and corn are +kept. A hole in the roof serves as chimney, and in the floor--which is +nothing but hard clay--a hole is dug to serve as fireplace. On the larger +farms in Overyssel the main building is generally divided into two parts. +The back part is for the cattle, which stand in rows on either side, with +a large open space in the centre, called the 'deel,' where the carts are +kept. A large arched double door leads into it, while the thatched roof +comes down low on either side. Leading from the 'deel,' or stable, into +the living-room is a small door, with a window to enable the inhabitants +to see what is going on among their friends of the fields. Against the +wall which forms the partition between the stable and living-room is the +fireplace. You will sometimes find an open fire on the floor, though in +the more modern houses stoves are used. The chimney-piece is in the shape +of a large overhanging hood with a flounce of light print 'Schoorsteenval' +round it, and a row of plates on a shelf above serves for ornament. The +much-prized linen-press, which has already been mentioned, is usually +placed at right-angles to the outer door, so as to form a kind of passage. + +In some farmhouses there is no partition at all between the stable and +living-room, but the cattle are kept at the back, and the people live at +the other end, near the window. This is called a 'loshuis,' or open house, +and very picturesque it is to look at. The smell of the cows is considered +to be extremely healthy, and consumptive patients have been completely +cured (so it is popularly believed) by sleeping in the cowsheds. Besides +being healthy, this primitive system is also cheap, for the cows give out +so much warmth that it is almost unnecessary to have fires except for +cooking purposes. Some of these open houses have no chimneys, the smoke +finding its way out between the tiles of the roof or through the door. +There is a hayloft above the part occupied by the cattle, while over the +heads of the family hams, bacon, and sausages of every description hang +from the rafters. Smoke is very useful in curing these stores, and this +may account for the absence of a chimney. + +In Brabant, however, where there are chimneys, the farmer hangs his stores +in them, so that when looking up through the wide opening to the sky +beyond numerous tiers of dangling sausages meet one's admiring gaze. The +living-room is a living-room in every sense of the word, for the family +work, eat, and sleep there. Sometimes a larger farm has a wing attached to +it containing bedrooms, but this is not general, and even so most of the +family sleep in the living-room. The beds are placed round the room. They +are, in fact, cupboards, and by day are fixed in the wall. Green curtains +are hung before the beds, and are always drawn at night, completely +concealing the beds from view. Some have doors like ordinary cupboards, +but this is more general in North Holland. In Hindeloopen (Friesland) one +or two beds in the living-room are kept as 'pronk-bedden' (show beds). +They are decked out with the finest linen the farmers' wives possess, the +sheets gorgeous with long laces, and the pillow-slips beautifully +embroidered. These beds are never slept in, and the curtains are kept open +all day long, so that any one who enters the room can at once admire their +beauty. Some of the more wealthy have a 'best bedroom,' which they keep +carefully locked. They dust it every day, and clean it out once a week, +but never use it. In South Holland it is more customary to have a +'pronk-kamer' ('show-room'), which is not a bedroom, but a kind of +parlour. This room is never entered by the inhabitants of the house except +at a birth or a death, and in the latter case they put the corpse there. +In Hindeloopen the dead are put in the church to await burial, and there +they rest on biers specially made for the occasion. A different bier is +used to represent the trade or profession or sex of the dead person. These +biers are always most elaborately painted (as, indeed, are all things in +Hindeloopen), with scenes out of the life of a doctor, a clergyman, a +tradesman, or a peasant. + +[Illustration: Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +The costume worn by the peasantry is always quaint, and this is +especially so in Hindeloopen. The waistband of a peasant woman takes +alone an hour and a half to arrange. It consists of a very long, thin, +black band, which is wound round and round the waist till it forms one +broad sash. The dress itself includes a black skirt and a check bodice, a +white apron, and a dark necktie; from the waistband hangs at the +right-hand side a long silver chain, to which are attached a silver +pincushion, a pair of scissors, and a needle-case; then on the left-hand +side hangs a reticule with silver clasps; and a long mantle, falling +loose from the shoulders to the hem of the skirt, is worn over all +out-of-doors. This latter is of some light-coloured material, with a +pattern of red flowers and green leaves. On the head three caps are worn, +one over the other, and for outdoor wear a large, tall bonnet is donned +by way of completing the costume. + +[Illustration: A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable.] + +All the Frisian costumes are beautiful. Many ladies of that province still +wear the national dress, and a very becoming one it is. + +In Overyssel the women all over the province dress alike and in the same +way their ancestors did. In the house the dress is an ordinary full +petticoat of some cotton stuff, generally blue, and a tight-fitting and +perfectly plain bodice with short sleeves, a red handkerchief folded +across the chest, and a close-fitting white cap, with a little flounce +round the neck. When they go to market with their milk and eggs they are +very smart.[Footnote: Butter used to be one of the wares they took to +market, but now so many butter-factories have arisen, and also so much is +imported from Australia, that it is hardly worth their while to make it.] + +They then wear a fine black merino skirt, made very full, and the +inevitable petticoats, which make the skirt stand out like a crinoline. On +Sundays they wear the same costume as on market-days, and in winter they +are to be seen with large Indian shawls worn in a point down the back in +the old-fashioned way. When they go to communion, as they do four times a +year, the shawls are of black silk with long black fringes. The hair is +completely hidden by a close-fitting black cap, and some women cut off +their hair so as to give the head a perfectly round shape. Over the black +cap is worn a white one of real lace, called a 'knipmuts,' the pattern of +which shows to advantage over the black ground. A deep flounce of gauffred +real lace goes round the neck, while round the face there is a ruche or +frill, also very finely gauffred. A broad white brocaded ribbon is laid +twice round the cap, and fastened under the chin. Long gold earrings are +fastened to the cap on either side of the face, and the ears themselves +are hidden. The style of gauffering is still the same as is seen in the +muslin caps of so many Dutch pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, especially in those of Frans Hals. When in mourning, the women +wear a plain linen cap without any lace, and the men a black bow in their +caps. It is quite a work of art to make up a peasant woman's head-dress, +and several cap-makers are kept busy at it all day long. + +The clothes the men wear are not so elaborate. They used to be short +knickerbockers with silver clasps, but these have entirely gone out of +fashion, and they have been replaced by ordinary clothes of cloth or +corduroy. Both sexes wear wooden shoes, which the men often make +themselves. In the far-famed little island of Marken, the men are very +clever at this work, and they carve them beautifully. In some lonely +hamlets the unmarried women wear black caps with a thick ruche of ostrich +feathers or black fur round the face. The jewellery consists of garnet +necklaces closed round the neck and fastened by golden clasps. The garnets +are always very large, and this fashion is general ail over the +Netherlands. In Stompwyk, a little village between The Hague and Leyden, a +peasant family possesses garnets as large as a swallow's egg. + +If the dress of the boers is solid, quaint, and national, the daily food +of the class is in keeping with their conservative temper and traditional +gastronomic ability. It is of the plainest character, but often consists +of the strangest mixtures. When a pig is killed, and the different parts +for hams, sides of bacon, etc., have been stored, and the sausages +made--especially after they have boiled the black-puddings, or +'Bloedworst,' which is made of the blood of the pigs--a thick fatty +substance remains in the pot. This they thicken with buckwheat meal till +it forms a porridge, and then they eat it with treacle. The name of this +dish is 'Balkenbry.' A portion of this, together with some of the +'slacht,' i.e. the flesh of the pig, is sent as a present to the +clergyman of the village, and it is to be hoped he enjoys it. + +Another favourite dish, especially in Overyssel and Gelderland, is +'Kruidmoes.' This is a mixture of buttermilk boiled with buckwheat meal, +vegetables, celery, and sweet herbs, such as thyme, parsley, and chervil, +and, to crown all, a huge piece of smoked bacon, and it is served steaming +hot. The poor there eat a great deal of rice and flour boiled with +buttermilk, which, besides being very nutritious, is 'matchless for the +complexion,' like many of the advertised soaps. The very poor have what is +called a 'Vetpot.' This they keep in the cellar, and in it they put every +particle of fat that remains over from their meals. Small scraps of bacon +are melted down and added to it, for this fat must last them the whole +winter through as an addition to their potatoes. Indeed, the 'Vetpot' +plays as great a part in a poor man's house as the 'stock-pot' does in an +English kitchen. + +[Illustration: Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor.] + +The meals are cooked in a large iron pot, which hangs from a hook over the +open hearth. The fuel consists of huge logs of wood and heather sods, +which are also used for covering the roofs of the 'Plaggewoning.' Black or +rye bread takes the place of white, and is generally home-made. In Brabant +the women bake what is called 'Boeren mik.' This is a delicious long brown +loaf, and there are always a few raisins mixed with the dough to keep it +from getting stale. Those who have no ovens of their own put the dough in +a large long baking-tin and send it to the baker. One of the children, on +his way back from school, fetches it and carries it home _under his arm_. +You may often see farmers' children walking about in their wooden shoes +with two or more loaves under their arms. Both wooden shoes and loaves are +used in a dispute between comrades, and the loaf-carrier generally gains +the day. The crusts are very hard and difficult to cut, but, inside, the +bread is soft and palatable. + +In Brabant the peasants--small of stature, black-haired, brown-eyed, more +of the Flemish than the Dutch type--are as a rule Roman Catholics, and on +Shrove Tuesday evening 'Vastenavond,' 'Fast evening' (the night before +Lent), they bake and eat 'Worstebrood.' On the outside this bread looks +like an ordinary white loaf, but on cutting it open you find it to contain +a spicy sausage-meat mixture. All the people in this part of the country +observe the Carnival, with its accustomed licence. + +Times for farming are bad in the Netherlands as elsewhere. The rents are +high and wages low, and the consequence is that many peasants sell their +farms, which have for a long time been in their families, and rent them +again from the purchasers. The relations between landlord and tenants are +in some respects still feudalistic, and hence very old-fashioned. On some +estates the landlord has still the right of exacting personal service from +his tenants, and can call upon them to come and plough his field with +their horses, or help with the harvesting, for which service they are paid +one 'gulden,' or 1s. 8d. a day, which, of course, is not the full value of +their labour. The tenants likewise ask their landlord's consent to their +marriages, and it is refused if the man or woman is not considered +suitable or respectable. + +A farmer who keeps two or three cows pays a rent of L8 a year for his +farm, which only yields enough to keep him and his family, not in a high +standard of living either. The rent is generally calculated at the rate of +three per cent. of the value. He pays his farm-labourers 80 cents, or 1s. +4d., for a day's work. In former days, however, money was never given, and +the wages of a farm-servant then were a suit of clothes, a pair of boots, +and some linen, while the women received an apron, some linen, and a few +petticoats once a year. Now they get in addition to this L12 a year. In +Gramsbergen (Overyssel) a whole family, consisting of a mother, her +daughter, and her two grown-up sons, earned no more than four or five +guilders (8s. or 10s.) between them, but then they lived rent free. It is +not wonderful, therefore, that farm-labourers are scarce, and that many a +young man, unable to earn enough to keep body and soul together decently, +seeks work in the factories here or in Belgium,[Footnote: According to a +recent return, 56,506 Netherlands workmen are employed in Belgium.] while +those who do not wish to give up agricultural pursuits migrate to Germany, +where the demand for 'hands' is greater and the wages consequently higher. +In former days strangers came to this country to earn money. Now the +tables are turned, and the fact that Holland is situated between two +countries whose thriving industries demand a greater number of workers +every year will yet bring serious trouble and loss to Dutch agriculture. +[Footnote: Just now great results are expected from the 'allotment +system,' of which a trial has been made in Friesland on the extensive +possessions of Mr. Jansen, of Amsterdam.] + + + + +Chapter IX + +Rural Customs + + + +The Hollander is a very conservative individual, and therefore some +curious customs still prevail among the peasant and working classes in the +Netherlands, especially in the Eastern provinces, for there the people are +most primitive, and there it is that we find many queer old rhymes, +apparently without any sense in them, but which must have had their origin +in forgotten national or domestic events. A remnant of an old pagan custom +of welcoming the summer is still to be seen in many country places. On the +Saturday before Whitsunday, very early in the morning, a party of children +may be seen setting out towards the woods to gather green boughs. After +dipping these in water they return home in triumph and place them before +the doors of those who were not 'up with the lark' in such a manner that, +when these long sleepers open them, the wet green boughs will come +tumbling down upon their heads. Very often, too, the children pursue the +late risers, and beat them with the branches, jeering at them the while, +and singing about the laziness of the sluggard. These old songs have +undergone very many variations, and nowadays one cannot say which is the +correct and original form. They have, in fact, been hopelessly mixed up +with other songs, and in no two provinces do we find exactly the same +versions. The 'Luilak feest,'[Footnote: This day is called Luilak +(sluggard) in some parts of the country and the feast is called +Luilakfeest.'] of which I have just spoken, goes by the name of +'Dauwtrappen' ('treading the dew') in some parts of the country, but the +observance of it is the same wherever the custom obtains. + +[Illustration: Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs.] + +'Eiertikken' at Easter must also not be overlooked. For a whole week +before Easter the peasant children go round from house to house begging +for eggs, and carrying a wreath of green leaves stuck on a long stick. +This stick and wreath they call their 'Palm Paschen,' which really +means Palm-Sunday, and may have been so called because they make the +wreath on that day. + +Down the village streets they go, singing all the while and waving the +wreath above their heads:-- + + Palm, Palm Paschen, + Hei koekerei. + Weldra is het Paschen + Dan hebben wy een ei. + Een ei--twee ei, + Het derde is het Paschei. + + Palm, Palm Sunday, + Hei koekerei. + Soon it will be Easter + And we shall have an egg. + One egg--two eggs, + The third egg is the Easter egg. + +They knock at every farmhouse, and are very seldom sent away empty-handed. +When they have collected enough eggs to suit their purpose--generally +three or four apiece--they boil them hard and stain them with two +different colours, either brown with coffee or red with beetroot juice, +and then on Easter Day they all repair to the meadows carrying their eggs +with them, and the 'eiertikken' begins. The children sit down on the +grass, and each child knocks one of his eggs against that of another in +such a way that only one of the shells breaks. The child whose egg does +not break wins, and becomes the possessor of the broken egg. + +The strangest of all these begging-customs, however, is the one in vogue +between Christmas and Twelfth Night. Then the children go out in couples, +each boy carrying an earthenware pot, over which a bladder is stretched, +with a piece of stick tied in the middle. When this stick is twirled +about, a not very melodious grumbling sound proceeds from the contrivance, +which is known by the name of 'Rommelpot.' By going about in this manner +the children are able to collect some few pence to buy bread--or gin--for +their fathers. When they stop before any one's house, they drawl out, +'Give me a cent, and I will pass on, for I have no money to buy bread.' +The origin both of the custom and song is shrouded in mystery.[Footnote: A +Society of Research into old folklore and folk-song has recently been +founded by some of the leading Dutch literary authorities, who also +propose to publish a little periodical in which all these customs will be +collected and noted.] + +Besides the customs in vogue at such festive seasons as Whitsuntide, +Easter, and Christmas, there are yet others of more everyday occurrence +which are well worth the knowing. In Overyssel, for instance, we find a +very sensible one indeed. It is usual there when a family remove to +another part of the village, or when they settle elsewhere, for the people +living in the neighbourhood to bring them presents to help furnish their +new house. Sometimes these presents include poultry or even a pig, which, +though they do not so much furnish the house as the table, prove +nevertheless very acceptable. As soon as all the moving is over and they +are comfortably installed in their new home, the next thing to do is to +invite all the neighbours to a party. + +This is a very important social duty and ought on no account to be +omitted, as it entitles host and hostess to the help of all their guests +in the event of illness or adversity taking place in their family. If, +however, they do not conform to this social obligation, their neighbours +and friends stand aloof, and do not so much as move a finger to help them. +Should one of the family fall ill, the four nearest male neighbours are +called in. These men fetch the doctor, and do all the nursing. They will +even watch by the invalid at night, and so long as the illness lasts they +undertake all the farm-work. Sometimes they will go on working the farm +for years, and when a widow is left with young children in straitened +circumstances, these 'Noodburen' ('neighbours in need') will help her in +all possible ways, and take all the business and worry off her hands. + +[Illustration: Rommel Pot.] + +In case of a marriage, too, the neighbours do the greater part of the +preparations. They invite the relations and friends to come to the +wedding, and make ready the feast. The invitations are always given by +word of mouth, and two young men[Footnote: In Gelderland we find this same +custom and also in Friesland, but in this last-named province the +invitation is given by two young girls.] nearly related to the bride and +bridegroom are appointed to go round from house to house to bid the people +come. They are dressed for this purpose in their best Sunday clothes, and +wear artificial flowers and six peacock's feathers in their caps. The +invitation is made in poetry, in which the assurance is conveyed that +there will be plenty to eat and plenty of gin and beer to drink, and that +whatever they may have omitted to say will be told by the bride and +bridegroom at the feast. This verse in the native patois is very curious-- + + 'GOEN DAG! + + 'Daor stao'k op minen staf + En weet niet wat ik zeggen mag, + Nou hek me weer bedach + En weet ik wat ik zeggen mag + Hier sturt ons Gut yan Vente als brugom + En Mientje Elschot as de brud, + Ende' noget uwder ut + Margen vrog on tien ur + Op en tonne bier tiene twalevenne, + Op en anker win, vif, zesse + En en wanne vol rozimen. + De zult by Venterboer verschinen + Met de husgezeten + En nums vergeten, + Vrog kommen en late bliven + Anders kun wy t nie 't op krigen + Lustig ezongen, vrolik esprongen, + Springen met de beide beene, + En wat ik nog hebbe vergeten + Zult ow de Brogom ende Brud verbeten. + Hej my elk nuw wal verstaan + Dan laot de fles um de taofel gaon + + + 'GOOD DAY! + + 'I rest here on my stick, + I don't know what to say, + Now I have thought of it + And know what I may say: + Here sent us Gart van Vente, the bridegroom, + And Mientje Elschot, the bride, + To invite you + To-morrow morning at ten o'clock + To empty ten or twelve barrels of beer, + Five or six hogsheads of wine, + And a basket full of dried grapes. + You will come to the house of Venterboer + With all your inmates + And forget nobody. + Come early and remain late, + Else we can't swallow it all down. + Then sing cheerfully, leap joyfully, + Leap with both your legs. + And, what I have yet forgotten, + Think of the bridegroom and bride. + If you have understood me well + Let pass the bottle round the table.' + +The day before the wedding is to take place the bridegroom and some of +his friends arrive at the bride's house in a cart, drawn by four horses, +to bring away the bride and her belongings. These latter are a motley +collection, for they consist not only of her clothes, bed and +bed-curtains, but her spinning-wheel, linen-press full of linen, and +also a cow. After everything has been loaded upon the cart, and the +young men have refreshed themselves with 'rystebry' (rice boiled with +sweet milk), they drive away in state, singing as they go. The following +day the bride is married from the house of her parents-in-law, and as it +often happens that the young couple live with the bridegroom's people, +it is only natural that they like to have the house in proper order +before the arrival of the wedding-guests, who begin to appear as soon as +eight o'clock in the morning. When all the invited guests are assembled +and have partaken of hot gin mixed with currants, handed round in +two-handled pewter cups, kept especially for these occasions, the whole +party goes, about eleven o'clock, to the 'Stadhuis,' or Town Hall, where +the couple are married before the Burgomaster, and afterwards to the +church, where the blessing is given upon their union. On returning home +the mid-day meal is ready, and, on this festive occasion, consists of +ham, potatoes, and salt fish, and the clergyman is also honoured with +an invitation to the gathering. The rest of the day is spent in +rejoicings, in which eating and drinking take the chief part. The bride +changes her outer apparel about four times during the day, always in +public, standing before her linen-press. The day is wound up with a +dance, for which the village fiddler provides the music, the bride +opening the ball with one of the young men who invited the guests, and +she then presents him with a fine linen handkerchief as a reward for his +invaluable services on the occasion. + +In Friesland a curious old custom still exists, called the 'Joen-piezl,' +which furnishes the clue to an odd incident in Mrs. Schreiner's 'Story of +an African Farm.' When a man and girl are about to be married, they must +first sit up for a whole night in the kitchen with a burning candle on the +table between them. By the time the candle is burnt low in its socket they +must have found out whether they really are fond of each other. + +The marriage customs in North and South Holland are very different to the +former. As soon as a couple are 'aangeteekend,' i.e. when the banns are +published for the first time (which does not happen in church, but takes +the form of a notice put up at the Town Hall), and have returned from the +'Stadhuis,' they drive about and take a bag of sweets ('bruidsuikers') to +all their friends. On the wedding-day, after the ceremony is over, the +bride and bridegroom again drive out together in a 'chaise'--a high +carriage on very big wheels, with room for but two persons. The horse's +head, the whip, and the reins are all decorated with flowers and coloured +ribbons. The wedding-guests drive in couples behind the bride and +bridegroom's 'chaise,' and the progress is called 'Speuleryden.' Sometimes +they drive for miles across country, stopping at every _cafe_ to drink +brandy and sugar, and when they pass children on the road these call out +to them, 'Bruid, bruid, strooi je suikers uit' ('Bride, bride, strew your +sugars about.') Handfuls of sweets will thereupon be seen flying through +the air and rolling about the ground, while the children tumble over each +other in their eager haste to collect as many of these sweets as they can. +Sometimes as much as twenty-five pounds of sweets are thus scattered upon +the roadside for the village children. Such a wedding is quite an event in +the lives of these little ones, and they will talk for weeks to come about +the amount of sweets they were able to procure. + +[Illustration: A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume.] + +[Illustration: Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur.] + +At Ryswyk, a little village near The Hague, and in most villages in +Westland, South Holland, the bride and bridegroom present to the +Burgomaster and Wethouders, and also to the 'Ambtenaar van den +Burgerlyken Stand' who marries them at the 'Stadhuis,' a bag of these +sweets, while one bearing the inscription, 'Compliments of bride and +bridegroom,' is given to the officiating clergyman immediately after the +ceremony in church. On their way home all along the road they strew +'suikers' out of the carriage windows for the gaping crowds. Some of the +less well-to-do farmers, and those who live near large towns, give their +wedding-parties at a _cafe_ or 'uitspanning.' This word means literally a +place where the horse is taken out of the shafts, but it is also a +restaurant with a garden attached to it, in which there are swings and +seesaws, upon which the guests disport themselves during the afternoon, +while in the evening a large hall in the building is arranged for the +ball, for that is the conclusion of every 'Boeren bruiloft.' Very often +the ball lasts till the cock-crowing, and then, if the 'Bruiloft houers' +are Roman Catholics, it is no uncommon practice first to go to church and +'count their beads' before they disperse on their separate ways to begin +the duties of a new day. + +A birth is naturally an occasion that calls for very festive celebration. +When the child is about a week old, its parents send round to all their +friends to come and rejoice with them. The men are invited 'op een lange +pyp en een bitterje,' the women for the afternoon 'op suikerdebol.' At +twelve o'clock the men begin to arrive, and are immediately provided with +a long Gouda pipe, a pouch of tobacco, and a cut glass bottle containing +gin mixed with aromatic bitters. While they smoke, they talk in voices +loud enough to make any one who is not acquainted with a farmer's mode of +speech think that a great deal of quarrelling is going on in the house. +This entertainment lasts till seven o'clock, when all the men leave and +the room is cleared, though not ventilated, and the table is rearranged +for the evening's rejoicings. + +Dishes of bread and butter, flat buttered rusks liberally spread with +'muisjes' (sugared aniseed--the literal translation is 'mice'), together +with tarts and sweets of all descriptions, are put out in endless +profusion on all the best china the good wife possesses. For each of the +guests two of these round flat rusks are provided, two being the correct +number to take, for more than two would be considered greedy, and to eat +only one would be sure to offend the hostess. Eating and drinking, for +'Advocatenborrel' (brandy and eggs) is also served, go on for the greater +part of the afternoon. The mid-day meal is altogether dispensed with on +such a day, and, judging by appearances, one cannot say that the guests +look as if they had missed it! + +It is quite the national custom to eat rusks with 'muisjes' on on these +occasions, and these little sweets are manufactured of two kinds. The +sugar coating is smooth when the child is a girl, and rough and prickly +like a chestnut burr when the child is a boy; and when one goes to buy +'muisjes' at a confectioner's he is always asked whether boys' or girls' +'muisjes' are required. Hundreds-and-thousands, the well-known decoration +on buns and cakes in an English pastry-cook's shop, bear the closest +resemblance to these Dutch 'muisjes.' + +When a little child is born into a family of the better classes, the +servants are treated to biscuits and 'mice' on that day; while in the very +old-fashioned Dutch families there is still another custom, that of +offermg 'Kandeel,' a preparation of eggs and Rhine wine or hock, on the +first day the young mother receives visitors, and it is specially made for +these occasions by the 'Baker' nurse. + +Funeral processions are a very mournful sight on all occasions, but a +Dutch funeral depresses one for about a month after. The hearse is all +hung with black draperies, while on the box sits the coachman wearing a +large black hat called 'Huilebalk.' From the rim overlapping the face +hangs a piece of black cord. This he holds in his mouth to prevent the hat +from falling off his head. The hearse itself is generally embellished by +the images of grinning skulls, though the carriages following the hearse +have no distinctive mark. If such a funeral procession happens to come +along the road you yourself are going, you may be sure of enjoying its +company the whole way, for the horses are only allowed to walk, never +trot, and it takes hours to get to the cemetery. In former days the horses +were specially shod for this occasion in such a way that they went lame on +one leg. This end was achieved by driving the nail of the shoe into the +animal's foot, for people thought this added to the doleful aspect of the +_coretge_ as it advanced slowly along the road. Happily this cruelty is +now dispensed with, and indeed is entirely forbidden by the Society for +the Prevention of Cruelty to Animais, but the ugly aspect of the hearses +remains the same. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Peasant Woman.] + +At a death, the relatives of the deceased have large cards printed, +announcing the family loss. These cards are taken round to every house in +the neighbourhood by a man specially hired for the purpose. This man, +called an 'Aanspreker,' carries a list of the names and addresses of the +people on whom he has to leave the cards; if the people sending out the +cards have friends in any other street of the town, a card is left at +every house in that street. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Children in State.] + +If the deceased was an officer, the cards, beside being sent round in +the neighbourhood, are left at every officer's house throughout the +town. To whichever profession the deceased belonged, to the people of +that profession the cards are sent. A Minister of State or any other +person occupying a very high position sends cards to every house in the +town and suburbs. + +In a village or country place a funeral is rather a popular event, and +the preparations for it somewhat resemble the preparations for a feast. +This, for instance, is the case in Overyssel. When one of a family dies, +the nearest relatives immediately call in the neighbouring women, and +these take upon themselves all the necessary arrangements. They send +round messages announcing the death and day of interment; they buy +coffee, sugar-candy, and a bottle of gin, wherewith to refresh themselves +while making the shroud and dressing the dead body; and the next morning +they take care that the church bells are duly rung, and, in the +afternoon, when the relations and friends come to offer their +condolences, they serve them, as they sit round the bier, with black +bread and coffee. When the plates and cups are empty the visitors leave +again without having spoken a word. + +On the day of the funeral, the guests assemble at two o'clock in the +afternoon. They first sit round the tables and eat and drink in silence, +and when the first batch have satisfied their appetites they move away and +make room for others. After this meal all walk round the coffin, and +repeat, one after another, 'Twas een goed mensch,' ('He or she was a good +man or woman,' as the case may be). Then the lid of the coffin is fastened +down with twelve wooden pegs, which the most honoured guest is allowed to +hammer in, and the coffin is forthwith placed on an ordinary farm-cart. +The nearest relations get in, too, and sit on the coffin, and the other +women on the cart facing the coffin. This custom is adhered to, +notwithstanding the prohibition by law to sit on any conveyance carrying a +coffin. The women are in mourning from tip to toe, and closely enveloped +in black merino shawls, which they wear over their heads. The men follow +on foot, and it is a picturesque though melancholy sight to watch these +funeral processions, always at close of day, solemnly wending their way +along the road, the dark figures of the women silhouetted against a sky +all aglow with those glorious sunsets for which Overyssel is famous. + + + + +Chapter X + +Kermis and St. Nicholas + + + +Of all the festivals and occasions of popular rejoicing and merriment in +Holland none can compare with the Kermis and the Festival of St. Nicholas, +which are in many ways peculiarly characteristic of Dutch life and Dutch +love for primitive usage. The Kermis is particularly popular, because of +the manifold amusements which are associated with it, and because it +unites all classes of the population in the common pursuit of +unsophisticated pleasure. As its name implies, the Kermis ('Kerk-mis') has +a religious origin, being named after the chief part of the Church +service, the mass. Just as the Feast of St. Baro received the name +'Bamisse,' so that of the consecration of the church was called the +'Church-mass,' or 'Kerk-mis.' In ancient times, if a church was +consecrated on the name-day of a certain saint the church was also +dedicated to that saint. Such a festival was a chief festival, or 'Hoof +feest,' for a church, and it was not only celebrated with great pomp and +solemnity, but amusements of all kinds were added to give the celebration +a more festive character. In large towns there were Kermissen at different +times of the year in different parishes, for each church was dedicated to +a different saint, so that there were as many dedicatory feasts in a town +as there were churches in it. + +At a very early period in the nation's history the Church-masses began to +wear a more worldly character, for the merchants made them an occasion for +introducing their wares and trading with the people, just as they did at +the ordinary 'year-markets.' These year-markets always fell on the same +day as the Kermissen, but they had a different origin. They were held by +permission of the Sovereign, and were first instituted to encourage trade; +but gradually the Kermis and the year-market went hand-in-hand, for the +people could no longer imagine a year-market without the Kermis +amusements, or a Kermis without booths and stalls, so if there was not +sufficient room for the latter to be built on the streets or squares, the +priest allowed them to be put up in the churchyard or sometimes even in +the church. Moreover, if it was not possible to have the year-market in +the same week as the Kermis, then the Kermis was put off to suit the +year-market, and these latter were of great aid to the religious +festivals, for they attracted a greater number of people, and as +dispensations were given for attending the masses both the churches and +the markets benefited. The mass lasted eight days, and the year-market as +long as the Church festival. The Church protected the year-markets, and +rang them in. With the first stroke of the Kermis clock the year-market +was opened and the first dance commenced, followed by a grand procession, +in which all the principal people of the town took part, and when the last +stroke died away white crosses were nailed upon all the bridges, and on +the gates of the town. These served both as a passport and also as a token +of the 'markt vrede' (market peace), so that any one seeing the cross knew +that he might enter the town and buy and sell _ad libitum_, also that his +peace and safety were guaranteed, and that any one who disturbed the +'markt vrede' would be banished from the place, and not be allowed to come +back another year. In some places this yearly market was named, after the +crosses, 'Cruyce-markt.' + +Very festive is the appearance of a town in the Kermis week. On the +opening day, at twelve o'clock, the bells of the cathedral or chief +church are set ringing, and this is the sign for the booths to be opened +and the 'Kermispret' to begin. Everywhere tempting stores are displayed +to view, and although a scent of oil and burning fat pervades the air, +nobody seems to mind that, for it only increases the delight the Kermis +has in store for them. The stalls are generally set out in two rows. The +most primitive of these is the stall of hard-boiled eggs and pickled +gherkins, whose owner is probably a Jew, and pleasant sounds his hoarse +voice while praising his wares high above all others. If he does prevail +upon you to come and try one of his eggs and gherkins it only adds more +relish to your meal when he tells you of the man who only paid one cent +for a large gherkin which really cost two, and although he already had +put it in his mouth he made him put the other part back. Or when you go +to eat 'poffertjes,' which look so tempting, and with the first bite find +a quid of tobacco in the inoffensive-looking little morsel, do not let +this trifling incident disturb your equanimity, but try another booth. It +is quite worth your while to stand in front of a 'poffertjeskraam' and +see how they are made. The batter is simply buckwheat-meal mixed with +water, and some yeast to make it light. Over a bright fire of logs is +placed a large, square, iron baking-sheet with deep impressions for the +reception of the batter. On one side sits a woman on a high stool, with a +bowl of the mixture by her side and a large wooden ladle in her hand. +This she dips into the batter, bringing it out full, then with a quick +sweep of the arm she empties its contents into the hollows of the +baking-sheet. A man standing by turns them dexterously one by one with a +steel fork, and a moment later he pricks them six at a time on to the +fork; this he docs four times to get a plateful, and then he hands it +over to another man inside the booth, who adds a pat of butter and a +liberal sprinkling of sugar. The 'wafelkramen' are not so largely +patronized, as the price of these delicacies is rather too high for the +slender purses of the average 'Kermis houwer,' but 'oliebollen'--round +ball-shaped cakes swimming in oil--are within the reach of all, as they +cost but a cent apiece. Servants and their lovers, after satisfying their +appetites with these 'oliebollen,' go and have a few turns in the +roundabouts by way of a change, and then hurry to the fish stall, where +they eat a raw salted herring to counteract the effects of the earlier +dissipation. The more respectable servant, however, turns up her nose at +the herrings, and goes in for smoked eel. These fish-stalls are very +quaint in appearance, for they are hung with garlands of dried +'scharretje' (a white, thin, leathery-looking fish), which dangle in +front, and form a most original decoration. In the towns a separate day +and evening are set apart for the servant classes to go to the fair, and +there is also a day for the _elite_. + +At the commencement of the reign of King William III. the whole Court, +including the King and Queen, used to meet at The Hague Kermis on the +Lange Voorhout on Thursday afternoons, between two and four o'clock, and +walk up and down between the double row of stalls; and in the evening of +that day they all visited either the most renowned circus of the season or +went to see the 'Kermis stuk,' or special play acted in fan-time. + +The servants' evening, as it is held in Rotterdam, is the most +characteristic. It is an evening shunned by the more respectable people, +for the 'Kermisgangers are a very rowdy lot. They amuse themselves chiefly +by running along the streets in long rows, arm-in-arm, singing +'Hossen--hossen-hossen!' They also treat each other to 'Nieuw rood met +suiker'--black currants preserved in gin with sugar--until they are all +quite tipsy, and woe to any quiet pedestrian who has the misfortune to +pass their way, for with loud 'Hi-has' they encircle him and make him +'hos' with them. The evening is commonly called the 'Aalbessen +(black-currant) hos.' + +[Illustration: Kermis: 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' _(After the Picture of Van +Geldrop_)] + +An equally curious but not so bad a custom is the Groninger 'Koek eten.' +All Groningers are fond of cake, and the 'Groninger kauke' is a widespread +and very tasty production; but for this special purpose is used the +'ellekoek,' a very long thin cake, which, as its name implies, is sold by +the yard. It is very tough, and just thin enough to hold in a large mouth, +and when a man chooses a girl to keep Kermis with him they must first see +whether they will suit one another as 'Vryer and Vryster' by eating +'ellekoek.' This is done in the following manner. They stand opposite one +another, and each begins at an end and eats towards the other. They may +not touch the cake with their hands, but must hold it between their teeth +all the while they are eating, and if they are unable to accomplish this +feat and kiss when they get to the middle it is a sure sign that they are +not suited to one another, and so the partnership is not concluded. In +some parts of Friesland and in Voorburg, one of the many villages near The +Hague, there is another cake custom, the 'Koekslaen,' which is a sort of +cake lottery. The cakes are all put out on large blocks, which are higher +at the sides than in the middle, and, for twopence, any one who likes may +try his luck and see if he can break the cake in two by striking it with a +stout stick provided by the stall-keeper for the purpose. It is necessary +to do this in one blow, for a second try involves the payment of another +fee. He who succeeds carries off the broken cake, and receives a second +one as a prize. Some men are very clever at this, and manage to carry off +a good many prizes. + +Just as the Kermis is rung in by the bells, so also it is tolled out +again. This, however, is not an official proceeding, but a custom among +the schoolboys of the Gymnasium and Higher Burgher Schools. At The Hague, +on the last day of the fair, all the 'schooljeugd' assembled in the Lange +Voorhout, dressed in black, just as they would dress for a funeral, while +four of them carried a bier, hung with wreaths and black draperies. On +this bier was supposed to rest all that remained of the Kermis. In front +of the bier walked a boy ringing a large bell, and proclaiming, 'De Kermis +is dood, de Kermis wordt begraven' ('The Kermis is dead, and is going to +be buried'). Behind the bier came all the other boys with the most +mournful expression upon their faces they could muster for the occasion, +and thus they carried the 'dead fair' through the principal streets of the +town, and at last buried it in the 'Scheveningsche Boschjes.' But this +custom is now a thing of the past, for the Kermis at The Hague has been +abolished, even as it has been abolished in most of the other towns +throughout the kingdom, for all authorities were agreed that fair-time +promoted vice and drunkenness, and the old-fashioned Kermis is now only to +be found in Rotterdam, Leyden, Delft, and some of the smaller provincial +towns and villages. + +The 6th of December is the day dedicated to St. Nicholas, and its vigil is +one of the most characteristic of Dutch festivals. It is an evening for +family reunions, and is filled with old recollections for the elders and +new delights for the younger people and children. Just as English people +give presents at Christmas time, so do the Dutch at St. Nicholas, only in +a different way, for St. Nicholas presents must be hidden and disguised as +much as possible, and be accompanied by rhymes explaining what the gift is +and for whom St. Nicholas intends it. Sometimes a parcel addressed to one +person will finally turn out to be for quite a different member of the +family than the one who first received it, for the address on each wrapper +in the various stages of unpacking makes it necessary for the parcel to +change hands as many times as there are papers to undo. The tiniest +things are sent in immense packing-cases, and sometimes the gifts are +baked in a loaf of bread or hidden in a turf, and the longer it takes +before the present is found the more successful is the 'surprise.' + +The greatest delight to the giver of the parcel is to remain unknown as +long as possible, and even if the present is sent from one member of the +family to another living in the same house the door-bell is always rung by +the servant before she brings the parcel in, to make believe that it has +come from some outsider; and if a parcel has to be taken to a friend's +house it is very often entrusted to a passer-by, with the request to leave +it at the door and ring the bell. In houses where there are many children, +some of the elders dress up as the good Bishop St. Nicholas and his black +servant. The children are always very much impressed by the knowledge St. +Nicholas shows of all their shortcomings, for he usually reminds them of +their little failings, and gives them each an appropriate lecture. +Sometimes he makes them repeat a verse to him or asks them about their +lessons, all of which tends to make the moment of his arrival looked +forward to with much excitement and some trembling, for St. Nicholas +generally announces at what time he is to be expected, so that all may be +in readiness for his reception. + +On the eventful evening a large white sheet is laid out upon the floor in +the middle of the room, and round it stand all the children with sparkling +eyes and flushed faces, eagerly scrutinizing the hand of the clock. As +soon as it points to five minutes before the expected time of the Saint's +arrivai they begin to sing songs to welcome him to their midst, and ask +him to give as liberally as was his wont, meanwhile praising his goodness +and greatness in the most eloquent terms. The first intimation the +children get of the Saint's arrival is a shower of sweets bursting in +upon them. Then, amid the general scramble which ensues, St, Nicholas +suddenly makes his appearance in full episcopal vestments, laden with +presents, while in the rear stands his black servant with an open sack in +one hand in which to put all the naughty boys and girls, and a rod in the +other which he shakes vigorously from time to time. When the presents have +all been distributed, and St. Nicholas has made his adieus, promising to +come back the following year, and the children are packed to bed to dream +of all the fun they have had, the older people begin to enjoy themselves. +First they sit round the table which stands in the middle of the room +under the lamp, and partake of tea and 'speculaas,' until their own +'surprises' begin to arrive. At ten O'clock the room is cleared, the +dust-sheet which was laid down for the children's scramble is taken up, +and all the papers and shavings, boxes and baskets that contained presents +are removed from the floor; the table is spread with a white table-cloth; +'letterbanket' with hot punch or milk chocolate is provided for the +guests; and, when all have taken their seats, a dish of boiled chestnuts, +steaming hot, is brought in and eaten with butter and salt. + +Cigars, the usual resource of Dutchmen when they do not know what to do +with themselves, do not form a feature of this memorable evening +(memorable for this fact also), not so much out of deference to the ladies +who are in their midst as for the reason that they are too fully occupied +with other and even pleasanter employments. + +[Illustration: St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th.] + +The personality of St. Nicholas, as now known by Dutch children, is of +mixed origin, for not merely the Bishop of Lycie, but Woden, the Frisian +god of the elements and of the harvest, figures largely in the legends +attached to his name. Woden possessed a magic robe which enabled him +when arrayed in it to go to any place in the world he wished in the +twinkling of an eye. This same power is attached to the 'Beste tabbaard' +of St. Nicholas, as may be seen from the verse addressed to him:-- + + + 'Sint Niklaas, goed, heilig man + Trek je beste tabberd an + Ryd er mee naar Amsterdam + Van Amsterdam naar Spanje.' + + [St. Nicholas, good, holy man + Put on your best gown + Ride with it to Amsterdam, + From Amsterdam to Spain.] + +The horse Sleipnir, on whose back Woden took his autumn ride through the +world, has been converted into the horse of St. Nicholas, on which the +Saint rides about over the roofs of the houses to find out where the good +and where the naughty children live. In pagan days a sheaf of corn was +always left out on the field in harvest time for Woden's horse, and the +children of the present day still carry out the same idea by putting a +wisp of hay in their shoes for the four-footed friend of the good Saint. +The black servant who now always accompanies St. Nicholas is an +importation from America, for the Pilgrim Fathers carried their St. +Nicholas festival with them to the New Country, and some of their +descendants who came to live in Holland brought 'Knecht Ruprecht' with +them, and so added another feature to the St. Nicholas festivity. + +What the Dutch originally knew of the life and works of 'Dominus Sanctus +Nicolaus' was told them by the Spaniards at the time of their influence in +Holland, and so it is believed that the Saint was born at Myra, in Lycie, +and lived in the commencement of the fourth century, in the reign of +Constantine the Great. From his earliest youth he showed signs of great +piety and self-denial, refusing, it is said, even when quite a tiny child, +to take food more than once a day on fast days! His whole life was devoted +to doing good, and even after his death he is credited with performing +many miracles. Maidens and children chiefly claim him as their patron +saint, but he also guards sailors, and legend asserts that many a ship on +the point of being wrecked or stranded has been saved by his timely +influence. During his lifetime the circumstance took place for which he +was ever afterwards recognized as the maidens' guardian. A certain man had +lost all his money, and to rid himself from his miserable situation he +determined to sell his three beautiful daughters for a large sum. St. +Nicholas heard of his intention, and went to the man's house in the night, +taking with him some of the money left him by his parents, and dropped it +through a broken window-pane. The following night St. Nicholas again took +a purse of gold to the poor man's house, and managed to drop it through +the chimney, but when he reached the man's door on the third night it was +suddenly opened from the inside, and the poor man rushed out, caught St. +Nicholas by his robe, and, falling down on his knees before him, +exclaimed, 'O Nicholas, servant of the Lord, wherefore dost thou hide thy +good deeds?' and from that time forth every one knew it was St. Nicholas +who brought presents during the night. In pictures one often sees St. +Nicholas represented with the threefold gift in his hand, in the form of +three golden apples, fruits of the tree of life. Another very well known +Dutch picture is St. Nicholas standing by a tub, from which are emerging +three bags. About fifty years ago such a picture was to be seen in +Amsterdam on the corner house between the Dam and the Damrak, with the +inscription, 'Sinterklaes.' The story runs that three boys once lost their +way in a dark wood, and begged a night's lodging with a farmer and his +wife. While the children were asleep the wicked couple murdered them, +hoping to rob them of all they had with them, but they soon discovered +that the lads had no treasure at all, and so, to guard against detection, +they salted the dead bodies, and put them in the tub with the pigs' flesh. +That same afternoon, while the farmer was at the market, St. Nicholas +appeared to him in his episcopal robes, and asked him whether he had any +pork to sell. The man replied in the negative, when St. Nicholas rejoined, +'What of the three young pigs in your tub? 'This so frightened the farmer +that he confessed his wicked deed, and implored forgiveness. St. Nicholas +thereupon accompanied him to his house, and waved his staff over the +meat-tub, and immediately the three boys stepped forth well and hearty, +and thanked St. Nicholas for restoring them to life. + +The birch rod, which naughty Dutch children have still to fear, has also a +legendary origin, and is not merely an imaginary addition to the +attributes of the Saint. A certain abbot would not allow the responses of +St. Nicholas to be sung in his church, notwithstanding the repeated +requests of the monks of his order, and he dismissed them at last with the +words, 'I consider this music worldly and profane, and shall never give +permission for it to be used in my church.' These words so enraged St. +Nicholas that he came down from the heavens at night when the abbot was +asleep, and, dragging him out of bed by the hair of his head, beat him +with a birch rod he carried in his hand till he was more dead than alive. +The lesson proved salutary, and from that day forth the responses of St. +Nicholas formed a part of the service. + +The St. Nicholas festival has always been kept with the greatest splendour +at Amsterdam. It was there that the festival was first instituted, and the +first church built which was dedicated to his name; for when Gysbrecht +III., Heer van Amstel, had the Amstel dammed, many people came to live +there, and houses arose up on all sides, and naturally, when the want of a +church was felt, and it was built, the good Nicholas was chosen the patron +Saint of the town. On his name-day masses were held in the church, and the +usual Kermis observed, Booths and stalls were set out in two rows all +along the Damrak, where the people of Amsterdam could buy sweets and toys +for their children. Special cakes were baked in the form of a bishop, and +named, after St. Nicholas, 'Klaasjes.' They were looked upon as an +offering dedicated to the Saint according to the old custom of their +forefathers, which can be again traced to the service of Woden. + +Not only Amsterdammers, however, but people from all the neighbouring +towns flocked to the St. Nicholas market, and followed the Amsterdammers' +example of filling their children's shoes with cakes and toys, always +telling them the old legend that St. Nicholas himself brought these +presents through the chimney and put them in their shoes. During and after +the Reformation this now popular festival had to bear a great deal of +opposition, for authors and preachers alike agreed that it was a foolish +feast, and led to superstition and idolatry. Hence the decree was issued, +in the year 1622, that no cakes might be baked and no Kermis held, and +even the children were forbidden to put out their shoes as they were +accustomed to do. But for once in a way people were sensible enough to +understand that giving their children a pleasant evening had nothing to do +either with superstition or idolatry, and so the festival lived on with +Protestants as well as Roman Catholics, although one point was gained by +the Reformers, in that St. Nicholas was no longer looked upon as holy and +worshipped, but was only honoured as the patron Saint and guardian of +their children. + +The fairs which once belonged to the festival of St. Nicholas are no +longer held in the street, at any rate in the larger towns, but the +exchange of presents is as universal as ever, and the shops look as +festive as shops in England do at Christmas-time. In many other ways, +indeed, St. Nicholas corresponds to Christmas in other countries, and +Protestants and Catholics alike observe it, although there is no religions +significance in the festival. The season, too, has its special cakes and +sweets. There are the flat hard cakes, made in the shapes of birds, +beasts, and fishes--the so-called 'Klaasjes'--for they are no longer baked +only in the form of a bishop, as they used to be. Then there is +'Letterbanket,' made, as the name implies, in the form of letters, so that +any one who likes can order his name in cake, and the 'Marsepein' +(marzipan) is now made in all possible shapes, though formerly only in +heart-shaped sweets, ornamented with little turtle-doves made of pink +sugar, or a flaming heart on a little altar. These sweets, it is said, +were invented by St. Nicholas himself, when he was a bishop, for the +benefit and use of lovers; for St. Nicholas held the office of +'Hylik-maker,' and many a couple were united by him. That is why the +confectioners bake 'Vryers and Vrysters' of cake at St. Nicholas time. If +a young man wanted to find out whether a girl cared for him, he used to +send her a heart of 'Marsepein' and a 'Vryer' of cake. Should she accept +this present he knew he had nothing to fear, but if she declined to accept +it he knew there was no hope for him in that quarter. These large dolls of +cake were usually decorated with strips of gold paper pasted over them, +but this fashion has gone out of use, and has caused the death of another +old custom; for it used to be a great treat for children and young people +to go and help the confectioners (who wrote all their customers an +invitation for that evening) on the 4th of December to prepare their goods +for the 'etalage.' Any cake that broke while in their hands they were +allowed to eat, and no doubt many did break. + +It is not likely that this celebration of St. Nicholas will ever be +abolished, and the shopkeepers do their best to perpetuate it by offering +new attractions for the little folk every year. Figures of St. Nicholas, +life-size, are placed before their windows; and some even have a man +dressed like the good Saint, who goes about the streets, mounted on a +white steed, while behind him follows a cart laden with parcels, which +have been ordered and are left in this way at the different houses. Crowds +of children, singing, shouting, and clapping their hands, follow in the +rear, adding to the noise and bustle of the already crowded streets, but +people are too good-natured at St. Nicholas time to expostulate. Smiling +faces, mirth, and jollity abound everywhere, and good feeling unites all +men as brethren on this most popular of all the Dutch festivals. + + + + +Chapter XI + +National Amusements + + + +Holland, like other countries, is indebted to primitive and classic +times for most of its national amusements and children's games, which +have been handed down from generation to generation. Many of the same +games have been played under many differing Governments and opposing +creeds. Hollander and Spaniard, Protestant and Catholic alike have found +common ground in those games and sports which afford so welcome a break +in daily work. + +'Hinkelbaan,' for example, found its way into the Netherlands from far +Phoenicia, whose people invented it. The game of cockal, 'Bikkelen,' still +played by Dutch village children on the blue doorsteps of old-fashioned +houses, together with 'Kaatsen,' was introduced into Holland by Nero +Claudius Druses, and it is stated that he laid out the first 'Kaatsbaan.' +The Frisian peasant is very fond of this game; and also of 'Kolven,' the +older form of golf; and often on a Sunday morning after church he may be +seen dressed in his velvet suit and low-buckled shoes, engaged in these +outdoor sports. About a century ago a game called 'Malien' was universally +played in South Holland and Utrecht. For this it was necessary to have a +large piece of ground, at one end of which poles were erected, joined +together by a porch. The bail was driven by a 'Mahen kolf,' a long stick +with an iron head and a leather grip, and it had to touch both poles and +roll through the porch. The 'Maheveld' at The Hague and the 'Mahebaan' at +Utrecht remind one of the places in which this game was played. + +In Friesland the Sunday game for youths is 'Het slingeren met +Dimterkoek'--throwing Deventer cake. Four persons are required to play +this game. The players divide themselves into opposite parties, and play +against each other. First they toss up to see which of the parties and +which of the boys shall begin. He on whom the lot falls is allowed to +give his turn to his opponent, which he often does if, on feeling the +cake, he notices that it is soft and liable to break easily. If, on the +contrary, it is hard, he keeps the first throw for himself. Holding the +cake firmly in his right hand, he takes a little run, bends backward, and +with a sudden swing throws the cake forward (as one throws a stone) so +that it flies away a good distance, breaking off just at the grip. This +piece, called 'hanslik,' or handpiece, he must keep in his hand, for if +he drops it he must let his turn pass by once, and his throw is not +counted. The distance of the throw is now measured and noted down, +whereupon one of the opposing party takes the piece of cake and throws +it, and so it goes on alternately till each has had a turn. The distances +of the throws of every two boys are counted together, and the side which +has the most points wins. + +There are also games played only at certain seasons of the year, as the +'Eiergaren' at Easter-time. This was very popular even in the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries. On Easter Monday all the village people betake +themselves to the principal street of the 'dorp' to watch the +'eiergaarder.' At about two o'clock in the afternoon the innkeeper who +provides the eggs appears upon the scene with a basket containing +twenty-five. These he places on the road at equal distances of twelve feet +from each other. In the middle of the road is then placed a tub of water, +on which floats a very large apple, the largest he has been able to +procure. Two men are chosen from the ranks of the villagers. The one is +led to the tub, his hands are tied behind his back, and he is told to eat +the floating apple; the other has to take the basket in his hand and pick +up while running all the eggs and arrange them in the basket before the +apple is eaten. He who finishes his task first is the winner, and carries +off the basket of eggs as a prize. It provokes great fun to see the man +trying to get hold of the floating-apple, which escapes so easily from the +grasp of his teeth, but some men are wise enough to push the apple against +the side of the tub, and of course as soon as they have taken one bite the +rest is easily eaten. When the game is over, the greater number of the +villagers go and drink to the good health of the winner at the +public-house, and so the innkeeper makes a good thing out of this custom +also, and for a game like this it is certainly wise to refresh one's self +_after_ the event. Skittles and billiards are very popular with the +peasant and working classes on Sunday afternoons, the only free time a +labourer has for recreation. Games of chance, also, in which skill is at a +minimum, are as numerous in Holland as in any other country. + +Children's games naturally occupy a large share in young Netherlands life, +especially outdoor romping games. Of indoor games there are very few, a +fact which may, perhaps, be accounted for by the custom of allowing +children to play in the streets. In former days children of all classes +played together in outdoor sports and games, and developed both their +muscles and their republican character. Even Prince Frederik Hendrik (who +was brother to and succeeded Prince Maurits in 1625), when at school at +Leyden, mixed freely with his more humble companions, and was often +mistaken for an ordinary schoolboy, and an old woman once sharply rebuked +him for daring to use her boat-hook to fish his ball out of the water into +which it had fallen. Nor did she notice to whom she was speaking until a +passer-by called her attention to the fact that it was the Prince, +whereupon the poor old soul became so frightened that she durst not +venture out of her house for weeks from imaginary fear of falling into the +clutches of the law, and ending her days in prison. + +Games may be divided into two classes, those played with toys and those +for which no toys are needed; but whatever the games may be they all have +their special seasons. Once a man wrote an almanack on children's games, +and noted down ail the different sports and their seasons, but, as the +poet Huggens truly said, + + 'De kindren weten tyd van knickeren en kooten, + En zonder almanack en ist hen nooit ontschoten,' + +which, freely translated, means that children know which games are in +season by intuition, and do not need an almanack, so he might have saved +himself the trouble. 'The children know the time to play marbles and +"Kooten," and without an almanack have not forgotten.' + +In the eighteenth century driving a hoop was as popular an amusement with +children as it is now, only then it was also a sport, and prizes were +given to the most skilful. In fact, hoop-races were held, and boys and +girls alike joined in them. They had to drive their hoops a certain +distance, and the one who first reached the goal received a silver coin +for a prize. This coin was fastened to the hoop as a trophy, and the more +noise a hoop made while rolling over the streets the greater the honour +for the owner of it, for it showed that a great many prizes had been +gained. In Drenthe the popular game for boys is 'Man ik sta op je +blokhuis,' similar to 'I am the King of the Castle,' but there is also the +'Windspel.' For the latter a piece of wood and a ball are necessary. The +wood is placed upon a pole and the ball laid on one side of it, then with +a stick the child strikes as hard as possible the other side of the piece +of wood, at the same time calling 'W-i-n-d,' and the ball flies up into +the air, and may be almost lost to sight. + +'Boer lap den Buis,' an exciting game from a boy's point of view, is a +general favourite in Gelderland and Overyssel. For this the boys build a +sort of castle with large stones, and after tossing up to see who is to be +'Boer,' the boy on whom the lot has fallen stands in the stone fortress, +and the others throw stones at it from a distance, to see whether they can +knock bits off it. As soon as one succeeds in doing so he runs to get back +his stone, at the same time calling out 'Boer, lap den buis,' signifying +that the 'Boer' must mend the castle. If the 'Boer' accomplishes this, and +touches the bag before he has picked up his stone, they change places, and +the game begins anew. + +Little girls of the labouring classes have not much time for games of any +sort, for they are generally required at home to act as nursemaids and +help in many other duties of the home life, but sometimes on summer +afternoons they bring out their younger brothers and sisters, their +knitting and a skipping-rope, which they take in turns, and so pass a few +pleasant hours free from their share (not an inconsiderable one) of +household cares, or in the evenings, when the younger members of the +family are in bed, they will be quite happy with a bit of rope and their +skipping songs, of which they seem to know many hundreds, and which might +be sung with equal reason to any other game under the sun for all the +words have to do with skipping. + +After a long spell of rain the first fall of snow is hailed with +delight, for it is a sign that frost is not far off. Jack Frost, after +several preliminary appearances in December, usually pays his first long +visit in January (sometimes, however, this is but a flying visit of two +or three days), and, as a rule, a Dutchman may reckon on a good hard +winter. As soon, therefore, as he sees the snow he thinks of the good +old saying--'Sneeuw op slik in drie dagen ys dun of dik' ('Snow on mud +in three days' time, thin or thick'). Ice is to be expected, and he gets +out his skates with all speed. This is one of the few occasions when the +people of the Netherlands are enthusiastic. Certainly skating is _the_ +national sport. The ditches are always the first to be tried, as the +water in them is very shallow, and naturally freezes sooner than the +very deep and exposed waters of river and canal, over which the wind, +which is always blowing in Holland, has fair play; but when once these +are frozen, then skating begins in real earnest. The tracks are all +marked out by the Hollandsche Ysvereeniging, a society which was founded +in 1889 in South Holland, and which the other provinces have now joined. +Finger-posts to point the way are put up by this society at all +cross-roads and ditches, with notices to mark the dangerous places, +while the newspapers of the day contain reports as to which roads are +the best to take, and which trips can be planned. For people living in +South Holland the first trip is always to the Vink at Leyden, as it can +be reached by narrow streams and ditches, and it is quite a sight to see +the skaters sitting at little tables with plates of steaming hot soup +before them. The Vink has been famous for its pea soup many years, and +has been known as a restaurant from 1768. When the Galgenwater is frozen +(the mouth of the Rhine which flows into the sea at Kat wyk), then the +Vink has a still gayer appearance, for not only skaters, but pedestrians +from Leyden and the villages round about that town, flock to this _cafe_ +to watch the skating and enjoy the amusing scenes which the presence of +the ice affords them. Then the broad expanse of water, which in summer +looks so deserted and gloomy as it flows silently and dreamily towards +the sea, is dotted ail over with tents, flags, 'baanvegers,' and, if the +ice is strong, even sleighs. + +Among the peasant classes of South Holland it is the custom, as soon as +the ice will bear, to skate to Gouda, men and women together, there to buy +long Gouda pipes for the men and 'Goudsche sprits' for the women, and then +to skate home with these brittle objects without breaking them. As they +come along side by side, the farmer holding his pipe high above his head +and the woman carefully holding her bag of cakes, every passer-by knocks +against them and tries to upset them, but it seldom happens that they +succeed in doing so, as a farmer stands very firmly on his skates, and, as +a rule, he manages to keep his pipe intact after skating many miles. The +longest trip for the people of South Holland, North Holland, and Utrecht, +is through these three provinces, and the way over the ice-clad country is +quite as picturesque as in summer-time, the little mills, quaint old +drawbridges, and rustic farmhouses losing nothing of their charm in winter +garb. All along the banks of the canals and rivers little tents are put +up to keep out the wind; a roughly fashioned rickety table stands on the +ice under the shelter of the matting, and here are sold all manner of +things for the skaters to refresh themselves with--hot milk boiled with +aniseed and served out of very sticky cups, stale biscuits, and sweet +cake. The tent-holders call out their wares in the most poetical language +they can muster-- + + 'Leg ereis an! Leg ereis an! + In het tentje by de man. + Warme melk en zoete koek + En een bevrozen vaatedoek.' + + ['Put up, put up + At the tent with the man; + Warm milk and sweet cake, + And a frozen dish-cloth.'] + +and they tell you plainly that you may expect unwashed cups, for the cloth +wherewith to wipe them is frozen, as well as the water to cleanse them. + +Under the bridges the ice is not always safe, and even if it has become +safe the men break it up so that they may earn a few cents by people +passing over their roughly constructed gangways, and so boards are laid +down by the 'baanvegers' for the skaters to pass over without risking +their lives. Besides making these wooden bridges, the 'baanvegers' keep +the tracks clean. Every hundred yards or so one is greeted by the +monotonous cry of 'Denk ereis an de baanveger,' so that on long trips +these sweepers are a great nuisance, for having to get out one's purse and +give them cents greatly impedes progress. The Ice Society has, however, +minimized the annoyance by appointing 'baanvegers' who work for it and +are paid out of the common funds, so that the members of the society who +wear their badge can pass a 'baanveger' with a clear conscience, while as +the result of this combination you can skate over miles of good and +well-swept ice without interference for the modest sum of tenpence, this +being the cost of membership of the society for the whole season. + +[Illustration: Skating to Church.] + +The Kralinger Plassen and the Maas near Rotterdam are greatly frequented +spots for carnivals on the ice, but the grandest place for skating and ice +sports of all kinds is the Zuyder Zee. In a severe winter this large +expanse of ice connects instead of dividing Friesland with North Holland. +Here we see the little ice-boats flying over the glossy surface as fast as +a bird on the wing, and sleighs drawn by horses with waving plumes, while +thousands of people flock from Amsterdam to the little Isle of Marken, and +the variety of costume and colour swaying to and fro on the fettered +billows of the restless inland sea makes it seem for the moment as though +the Netherlander's dream had come true, and Zuyder Zee had really become +once more dry land. In winter every one, from the smallest to the +greatest, gives himself up to ice-sports, and even the poor are not +forgotten. In some villages races are proclaimed, for which the prizes are +turfs, potatoes, rice, coals, and other things so welcome to the poor in +cold weather. A racer is appolnted for every poor family, and where there +are no sons big enough to join in the races, a young man of the better +classes generally offers his services, and, when successful, hands his +prize over to the family he undertook to help. + +Skating is second nature with the Dutch, and as soon as a child can walk +it is put upon skates, even though they may often be much too big for it. +Moreover, when the ice is good, winter-time affords recreation for the +working as well as the leisured classes, for the canals and rivers become +roads, and the hard-worked errand-boys, the butchers' and the bakers' boys +manage to secure many hours of delightful enjoyment as they travel for +orders on skates. The milkman also takes his milk-cart round on a sledge, +and the farmers skate to market, saving both time and money, for then +there is no railway fare to be paid, and a really good skater goes almost +as fast as a train in Holland--especially the Frisian farmers, for +Frisians are renowned for their swift skating, and the most famous racer +of the commencement of the nineteenth century, Kornelis Ynzes Reen, skated +four miles in five minutes. + +But although the ice affords, and always has afforded, so much pleasure, +there are periods in history when the frost caused great anxiety to the +people of the Netherlands. The cities Naarden and Dordrecht are easily +reached by water, and when that is frozen it would give any one free +access to the town, and so in time of war frost was a much-dreaded thing. +In the year 1672 this fear was realized, for when the ships of the Geuzen +round about Naarden were stuck fast in the ice, and the Zuyder Zee was +frozen, the enemy, armed with canoes and battle-axes, came over the ice +from the Y and across the Zuyder Zee to Naarden. The best skaters among +the Geuzen immediately volunteered to meet the Spaniards on the ice. They +took only their swords with them, and while the ships' cannon had fair +play from the bulwarks of the vessels over the heads of the Geuzen into +the Spanish ranks, the Geuzen could approach them fearlessly and +unmolested for a hand-to-hand fight. The Spaniards, who, besides being +very heavily armed were very bad skaters, were soon defeated, for they +kept tumbling over each other. The Geuzen pursued them to Amsterdam, and +then returned to their ships, where they were greeted with great +enthusiasm, and, as the thaw set in the next day, they were happily saved +from a renewed attack. + + + + +Chapter XII + +Music and the Theatre + + + +Singing was one of the principal social pastimes of the Dutch nation +during the eighteenth and far into the nineteenth century, and the North +Hollander was especially fond of vocal music. When young girls went to +spend the evening at the house of a friend they always carried with them +their 'Liederboek '--a volume beautifully bound in tortoise-shell covers +or mounted with gold or silver. The songs contained in these books were a +strange mixture of the gay and grave. Jovial drinking-songs or +'Kermisliedjes' would find a place next to a 'Christian's Meditation on +Death.' It was an _olla podrida_, in which everybody's tastes were +considered. Recitations were also a feature of these little gatherings. + +Nowadays these national songs are rarely heard. French, Italian, and +German songs have taken their place, and it is but seldom one hears a real +Dutch song at any social gathering. The 'people,' too, seem to have +forgotten their natural gift of poetry, for the only songs now heard about +the streets are badly translated French or English ditties. If England +brings out a comic song of questionable art, six months later that song +will have made its way to Holland, and will have taken a popular place in +a Dutch street musician's _repertoire;_ it will be whistled in many +different keys by butcher and baker boys, and will be heard issuing +painfully from the wonderful mechanism of the superfluous concertina. For +almost every one in Holland possesses some musical instrument on which he +plays, well or otherwise, when his daily work is over, or on Sunday +evenings at home. And here a notable characteristic of the Dutch higher +classes must be mentioned by way of contrast. Musical though they are, +trained as they generally are both to play and sing well, they yet seldom +exercise their gifts in a friendly, social, after-dinner way in their own +homes. They become, in fact, so critical or so self-conscious that they +prefer to pay to hear music rendered by recognized artists, and so a by no +means inconsiderable element of geniality is lost to the social and +domestic circle. + +The decay of folk-song is the more regrettable, since Holland is rich in +old ballads, some of which, handed down just as the people used to sing +them centuries ago, are quaint, _naive,_ and exceedingly pretty. The +melodies have all been put to modern harmonies by able composers, and +published for the use of the public. + + 'Het daghet in het oosten, + Het lichtis overal,' + +is a little jewel of poetic feeling, and the melody is very sweet. The +story, like most of the songs of the past troublous centuries, tells of +a battlefield where a young girl goes to seek her lover, but finds him +dead. So, after burying him with her own white hands, with his sword +and his banner by his side, she vows entrance into a convent. The story +is a picture in miniature of the times, and as a piece of literature it +ranks high. + +Music of some sort finds a place in the homes of the poorest, and the +concert, theatre, and opera are as much frequented by the humble of the +land as by the wealthy and noble born. The servant class on their 'evening +out' frequently go to the French opera, and there is not a boy on the +street but is able to whistle some tune from the great modern operas, such +as 'Faust,' 'Lohengrin,' and other standard works. And no wonder, for the +choristers in the operas walk behind fruit-carts all day long, and often +call out their wares in the musical tones learnt while following their +more select profession as public singers. Some, of course, cannot read a +note of music, and the melodies they have to sing have to be drummed, or +rather trumpeted, into their ears. To this end they are placed in a row, +and a man with a large trumpet stands before them and plays the tune over +and over again until they know it off. In the summer-time whole parties of +these Jewish youths--for Jewish they chiefly are--go about the woods on +their Sabbath day singing the parts they take in the operas in the winter +season, and crowds of people flock to hear them, for their voices are +really well worth listening to. + +Concerts are naturally not so largely patronized by the people as are +operas and theatres. In the larger towns of Holland especially theatricals +take a very prominent place in popular relaxation, and even the smaller +towns and villages, should they lack theatres and be unable to get good +theatrical companies to pay them periodical visits, arrange for dramatic +performances by local talent. The popularity of the opera may be judged +from the fact that at Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen, Arnhem +and Utrecht, operas in Dutch and French are regularly given, and +occasionally works in German and even Italian are produced. Money is +scarce in Holland, the people generally have little to spare, so grand +opera-houses, such as are thought necessary in most European cities of any +pretension to culture, are impossible, and the singers can seldom count on +liberal fees. But most of the best works are heard all the same--which, +after all, is the principal thing--and the enjoyment and edification which +result are not less genuine because of the simplicity of the properties +and the humble character of the entire surroundings. + +Yet outdoor music possesses a powerful attraction for the Dutch humbler +classes, as for the same classes in most, if not all, countries; and when +in the summer-time there is music in the Wood at The Hague on Sunday +afternoons or Wednesday evenings, the walks round about the 'Tent' are +alive with servants and their lovers, parading decorously arm-in-arm. +Happy fathers, too, with their wives and children in Sunday best, +perambulate the grounds or rest on the seats amongst the trees and listen +to the 'Bosch-muziek.' People of the better class only are members of the +'Witte Societeit,' and sit inside the green paling to listen to the music +and drink something meanwhile. For it is strange but true, that a Dutchman +never seems thoroughly to enjoy himself unless he has liquid of some sort +at hand, and never feels really comfortable without his cigar. Indeed, if +smoking were abolished from places of public amusement, most Dutchmen +would frequent them no more. In winter concerts are given every other +Wednesday at The Hague--and what is true of The Hague applies to Amsterdam +and all other towns of any size in the country--and the Public Hall is +always packed; but besides these 'Diligentia' concerts there are others +given by various Singing Societies, so that there is variety enough to +choose from. + +In the summer-time there is another attraction besides the Wood for the +people of The Hague, for the season at Scheveningen opens on the 1st of +June, and there is music at the Kurhaus twice a day--in the afternoon on +the terrace of that building, and in the evening in the great hall inside. +On Friday night is given what is called a 'Symphony Concert.' To this all +the world flocks, for no one who at all respects himself, or esteems the +opinion of society, would venture to miss it. Whether every one +understands or enjoys the high class music given is another question, +which it would be imprudent to press too urgently, but then it belongs to +'education' to go to concerts, and so all enjoy it in their own way. For +the townspeople and the working-classes, who have no free time during the +week, concerts are given at the large Voorhout on the Sunday evenings in +summer, so that on that day even the busiest and poorest may enjoy +recreation of a better kind than the public-house offers them, and this +effort on their behalf is greatly appreciated by the people, who gladly +make use of the opportunities of hearing good and popular music. + +The national love of music is assiduously fostered by the Netherlands +Musical Union, whose branches are to be found all over the country. Every +town has musical and singing societies of some kind--private as well as +public--and these make life quite endurable in winter, even in the +smallest places. Nor do these 'Zangvereenigingen' derive their membership +exclusively from the higher classes, for the humbler folk have +organizations of their own. Even the servant girl and the day-labourer +will often be found to belong to singing clubs of some kind. Music is also +taught at most of the public schools, though it was long before the +Government capitulated upon the point, and gave this subject a place side +by side with drawing as part of the normal curriculum of the children of +the people. + +Happily for the musical and dramatic tastes of the nation, both the +concert and the theatre are cheap amusements in Holland. As a rule, the +dearest seats cost only from 3s. to 5s., while the cheapest, even in +first-class houses at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, cost as little +as sixpence. The only exceptions are when renowned artists tour the +country, and even then the prices seldom exceed L1 for the best places. +There is one musical event which makes a more serious call upon the purse, +and it is the periodical operatic performance of the Wagner Society in +Amsterdam. As a rule, two representations a year are given, and some of +the best singers of Europe are invited to sing in one or other of Wagner's +operas. The best Dutch orchestra plays, and chosen voices from the +Amsterdam Conservatoire take part in the choruses. The scenery is worthy +of Bayreuth itself, and such expense and care are bestowed upon these +choice performances that, though the house is invariably filled on every +occasion, the fees for admission never pay the costs, so that the musical +enthusiasts of Amsterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague regularly make up the +deficit each year, which sometimes amounts to as much as L1000. + +While, however, the Dutch may with truth be classed as a distinctly +musical nation, they would seem to have outlived their fame in the domain +of musical art. For it should not be forgotten that Holland has in this +respect a distinguished history behind it. So long ago as the times of +Pope Adrian I. a Dutch school of music was established under the tuition +of Italian masters, and it compared favourably with the contemporary +schools of other nations. Even in the ninth century Holland produced a +composer famous in the annals of music in the person of the monk Huchbald +of St. Amand, in Flanders. He it was who changed the notation, and +arranged the time by marking the worth of each note, and he is also +remembered for his 'Organum,' the oldest form of music written in +harmonies. It is often lamented that the compositions of to-day lack the +originality which marked the earlier works. The country has none the less +produced some noticeable composers during the past century. Of these J. +Verhuist, W.F.G. Nicolal, Daniel de Lange, Richard Hol, and G. Mann are +best known, though of no modern composer can it be said that he has any +special 'cachet,' for the younger men, fed as they are on the works of +other nations, grow into their style of thinking and writing, and follow +almost slavishly in their footsteps. It is unfortunate that many rising +composers cannot be persuaded to publish their works. The reason is that +the cost of publishing in the Netherlands is almost fabulous, and if they +do publish them at all it is done in Germany. But even then the +circulation is so limited, owing to the smallness of the country, that it +does not repay the cost; and so they prefer to plod on unknown, or to +cultivate celebrity by giving private concerts of their own works. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +Schools and School Life + + + +If the Dutch peasant is not generally well educated it is not for want of +opportunity, but rather because he has not taken what is offered him. For +many years past a good elementary education has been within the reach of +all. Even the small fees usually asked may be remitted in the case of +those parents who cannot afford to pay anything, without entailing any +civil disability; but attendance at school was only made compulsory by an +Act which passed the Second Chamber in March, 1900, and which, at the time +of writing, has just come into force. It is said that as many as sixty +thousand Dutch children are getting no regular schooling. About one half +of this number live on the canal-boats, and will probably give a good deal +of trouble to those who will administer the new Act; for, as we have +already seen, the families that these boats belong to have no other homes +and are always on the move, so that it must ever be difficult to get hold +of the children, especially as their parents do not see the necessity of +sending them to school. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether any +great improvement will resuit from the new Act, especially as private +tuition may take the place of attendance at a school, and exemption is +granted to those who have no fixed place of abode, and to parents who +object to the tuition given in all the schools within two and a half miles +of their homes. Under these conditions it seems that any one who wishes to +evade the law will have little difficulty in doing so. The canal-boat +people, apparently, are exempt so long as they do not remain for +twenty-eight days consecutively in the same 'gemeente,' or commune. + +The education provided by the State is strictly neutral in regard to +religion and politics, but there are many denominational schools all over +the country. Protestants call theirs 'Bible schools,' and Romanists call +theirs 'Catholic schools,' and both these receive subsidies from the State +if they satisfy the inspectors. Private schools also exist, but do not as +a rule receive State aid. They are all, however, under State supervision +and subject to the same conditions as to teachers' qualifications; and a +very good rule is in force, namely, that no one may teach in Holland +without having passed a Government examination. + +Instruction in the elementary schools supported by Government is in two +grades, though the dividing line is not always clearly drawn. In +Amsterdam, for example, there are four different grades. In the lower +schools the subjects taught are, besides reading, writing, and +arithmetic, grammar and history, geography, natural history and botany, +drawing, singing and free gymnastics, and the girls also learn +needlework, but a large proportion of the pupils are satisfied with a +more modest course, and know little more than the three R's. The children +attending these schools are between six and twelve years of age, though +in some rural districts few of them are less than eight years old, but +according to the new law they must begin to attend when they are seven +and go on until they are twelve or thirteen according to the standard +attained. In the upper grade schools the same subjects are taught in a +more advanced form, with the addition of universal history, French, +German, and English. These languages, being optional, are taught more or +less after regular school hours. + +All the teachers in these schools must hold teachers' or head-teachers' +certificates, to gain which they have to pass an examination in all the +subjects which they are to teach except languages, for each of which a +separate certificate is required. Every commune must have a school, though +hitherto no one has been obliged to attend it, and lately, owing to the +new Education Act, the builders have been busy in many places enlarging +the schools to meet the new requirements. If there are more than forty +children two masters are now necessary, and for more than ninety there +must be at least three. Ten weeks' holidays are allowed in the year, and +these are to be given when the children are most wanted to help at home, +in addition to which leave of absence may be granted in certain cases by +the district inspectors. Holidays, therefore, vary according to the +conditions of a town or village. + +All schools are more or less under State control. They are divided into +three classes according to the type of education which they provide. Lower +or elementary education has already been dealt with. Between this and the +higher education of the 'Gymnasia' and Universities comes what is called +'middelbaar onderwijs'--that is, secondary, or rather intermediate, +education. This is represented by technical or industrial schools, +'Burgher night schools,' and 'Higher burgher schools.' The first named +train pupils for various trades and crafts, more especially for those +connected with the principal local industries. The course is three years +or thereabouts, following on that of the elementary schools, and there is +generally an entrance examination, but the conditions vary in different +communes. Sometimes the instruction is free, sometimes fees are charged +amounting to a few shillings a year, the cost being borne by the communes, +and in a few towns there are similar schools for girls who have passed +through the elementary schools. The technical classes for girls cover such +subjects as fancy-work, drawing and painting of a utilitarian character, +and sometimes book keeping and dress-making. Most of them are free, but +for some special subjects a small payment is required. Drawing seems to be +a favourite subject, and in most of these technical schools there are +classes for mechanical drawing as well as for some kind of artistic work +connected with industry. In addition there are numerous art schools, some +of them being devoted to the encouragement of fine art, while in others +the object kept in view is the application of art to industry. + +The 'Burgher night schools,' like the technical schools, are supported by +the communes in which they are situated. There are about forty of them in +all, and most of them are very well attended, in some cases the regular +students, who are all working men and women, number several hundreds. The +instruction is similar to that given in the technical schools, that is to +say, it is chiefly practical, and local industries receive special +attention. Formerly there were day schools also for working men, on the +same lines as these, but they were not a success, and the technical +schools have taken their place. + +Of a higher class, but still included in the term 'middelbaar onderwijs,' +is the 'modern' education of the 'higher burgher' schools. The majority of +these schools were founded by the communes, the rest by the State, but +internally they are ail alike, and all are inspected by commissioners +appointed by the Government for the purpose. Pupils enter at twelve years +of age, and must pass an entrance examination, which, like nearly every +examination in Holland, is a Government affair. Having passed this, they +attend school for five years, as a rule, but at some of these institutions +the course lasts only three years. In some degree the 'higher burgher' +schools correspond to the modern side of an English school: at least the +subjects are much the same, embracing mathematlcs, natural science, modern +languages and commercial subjects, and no Latin or Greek is taught. The +education is wholly modern and practical, with the object of preparing +pupils for commercial life. There are 'higher burgher' schools for girls +as well as for boys, at which nearly the same education is provided. + +A great advantage of these schools is that they are very cheap; at the +most expensive the yearly fees amount to a little more than thirty pounds, +but at the majority they only come to four or five. To teach in such +schools as these one must have a diploma or a University degree. A +separate diploma is necessary for each subject, and the examination is not +easy. Even a foreigner who wishes to teach his own language must pass the +same examination as a Dutchman. No difference is made between the masters +at the boys' schools and the ladies who teach the girls; exactly the same +diplomas are required in both cases. + +The 'Gymnasia,' to which allusion has been made, are classical schools, +which prepare boys for the Universities. The age of entry is the same as +at the modern schools, twelve; but the course is longer, as a rule +covering six years instead of five, and at the end of this course comes a +Government examination, the passing of which is a necessary preliminary +to a University degree. The 'Gymnasia' were founded by an Act of +Parliament, but are supported by the communes, which in this case are the +larger towns, but they are assisted, as a rule, by a Government grant. The +fees are very small, only about, L8 a year. + +There are a few private and endowed schools, which may send up candidates +for the same examinations as are taken by the pupils of the State schools, +and it is among these that we find the only boarding schools in the +country. Some of these have certain privileges; for instance, the +headmaster may engage assistants who do not hold diplomas, which makes it +easier for him to get native teachers for modern languages; but in the +State schools proper, the selection of undermasters does not rest with the +head, or director, as he is called, at all. Foreign teachers are not very +plentiful, as the diplomas are not easy to get, and a native, who has to +relearn much of his own language from a Dutch point of view, has little or +no advantage over a Dutchman in the examinations. + +No sketch of Dutch schools would be complete without some reference to the +way in which modern languages are studied, for this is the most striking +feature in the national education, and is of great importance when we are +considering the national life and character of Holland. Former generations +of Dutchmen won a place among the 'learned nations' by their knowledge of +the classical languages; and their descendants seem to have inherited the +gift of tongues, but make a more practical use of it. French, German, +English, and Dutch, which go by the name of 'de vier Talen,' or 'the four +languages,' have taken the place of Greek and Latin. In the 'Gymnasia' +every pupil learns to speak them as a matter of course, and in the 'higher +burgher' schools the same languages receive special attention, with a view +to commercial correspondence. Even in the upper elementary schools, boys +and girls are taught some or all of them. A boy entering one of the higher +schools at the age of twelve or thirteen generally has some knowledge of, +at least, one foreign language, acquired either at an elementary school, +or at home, and he is never shy of displaying that knowledge. If his +parents are well off, he has probably learned to speak French or English +in the nursery, and it sometimes happens that he even speaks Dutch with a +French or an English accent, having been brought up on the foreign +language and acquired his native longue later. German as a rule is not +begun so soon, the idea being that its resemblance to Dutch makes it +easier, which is no doubt true to a certain extent. The result, however, +is very often that the easiest language of the three is the one least +correctly spoken. + +As in all Continental countries, there is nothing in Holland corresponding +to the English public school System. The 'Gymnasia' prepare boys for the +Universities, and the 'higher burgher' schools train them for commercial +life and some professions, somewhat in the same way as English modern +schools, but there the resemblance ends. As a rule, a Dutch boy's school +life is limited to the hours he spends at lessons; the rest of the day +belongs rather to home life. There are a few boarding schools in Holland, +but the life in such schools in the two countries is different in almost +every respect. The size of the schools may have something to do with this, +though by itself it is not enough to account for the difference. A Dutch +head-master once drew my attention to the lack of tradition in his own and +other schools in the country, and expressed a hope that time might work a +change. At present there is little sign of such a change. Tradition has +hardly had time to grow up yet, for few of the existing schools are much +more than twenty years old, and its growth is retarded by the small +numbers, which make any widespread freemasonry among old boys impossible. +But there is another and more serious obstacle. The uniform control which +the Government exercises over ail schools alike, State, endowed, or +private, whatever advantages it may have, certainly hinders the +development of that individuality which makes 'the old school,' to many an +English boy, something more than a place where he had lessons to do and +was prepared for examinations. + +A rough sketch of the inside of a Dutch school will doubtless be of +interest. One of the few endowed schools in Holland may be taken as fairly +typical of its class, but not of the State schools, though it competes +with these and combines the classical and modern courses. It lies in the +country, near a small village, and in this respect also differs from the +'Gymnasia' and 'higher burgher' schools, which are ail situated in the +larger towns. + +One of the first things which attracts notice is the large number of +masters. It seems at first that there are hardly enough boys to go round. +This is due to the law, which requires that every master must be qualified +to teach his particular subject either by a University degree or by an +equivalent diploma. Few hold more than two diplomas, and consequently much +of the teaching is done by men who visit this and other schools two or +three times a week. In this particular foundation the three resident +masters are foreigners, but such an arrangement is exceptional. Classes +seldom include more than half a dozen boys, and very often pupils are +taken singly, and therefore each boy receives a good deal of individual +attention. Such a school is divided into six forms or classes, but not +for teaching purposes; the day's work is differently arranged for each +boy, and these classes merely record the results of the last examination. +Some of the lessons last for an hour, but the rest are only three quarters +of an hour long; they make up in number, however, what they lack in +length, amounting to about nine and a half hours a day. Owing to the time +being so much broken up, it may be doubted whether the amount of work done +is any greater here than in an average English school where the aggregate +of working hours is considerably less. Amongst our Dutch friends, however, +and there may be others who share their opinion, the general belief is +that English schoolboys learn very little except athletics. + +With regard to sports and pastimes, these are the only schools in which +any interest is taken or encouragement given therein. Football is played +here on most half-holidays during the winter, and sometimes on Sunday, and +occasionally its place is taken by hockey. It must be admitted that the +standard of play is not very high in either game, though many of the boys +work hard and, with better opportunities, might develop into high-class +players; but as there are only about thirty boys in the school, +competition for places in the teams is not very keen. Rowing has lately +been introduced, not to the advantage of the football eleven. It may be +remarked, by the way, that only Association football is played in Holland; +the Rugby game is strictly barred by head-masters and parents as too +dangerous. Attempts have been made to introduce cricket, but the game +meets with little encouragement. There is a lawn-tennis court, however, +which is constantly in use during the summer term. Bicycling is very +popular, not only here, but in Holland generally; in fact, most of the +boys seem to prefer this form of exercise to any of the games which have +been mentioned. + +Whether at work or play, all the boys are under the constant supervision +of one or other of the resident masters, and the head is not far off. A +few of the seniors are allowed to go outside the grounds when they please, +but the rest may only go out under the charge of a master. In spite of +this apparently strict supervision, however, there is not much real +discipline. Corporal punishment is not allowed; both public opinion and +the law of the land are against it. Other punishments, such as detention +and impositions, are ineffectual, and are generally regarded by the +culprit as unjustly interfering with his liberty. Consequently the masters +have not much hold over the boys, who might, if they chose, perpetrate +endless mischief without fear of painful consequences so long as they did +nothing to warrant expulsion; but the young Hollander does not appear to +have much enterprise in that direction. Perhaps he is sometimes kept out +of mischief by his devotion to the fragrant weed, for he generally learns +to smoke at a tender age, with his parents' consent, and no exception is +taken to his cigar except during lessons; but it is certainly startling to +see the boys smoking while playing their games, as well as on all other +possible occasions. + +A large proportion of the boys at the 'Gymnasia,' perhaps the majority of +them, pass on to the Universities, some to qualify for the learned +professions, others because it is the fashion in Holland as in other +countries for young men who have no intention of following any profession +to spend a few years at a University in search of pleasure and experience; +but the experience in this case is peculiar and unique. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +The Universities + + + +As to the Universities themselves, it is not necessary to consider them +separately, as all four of them, Leyden, Groningen, Utrecht and Amsterdam, +are alike in constitution. They are not residential, there are no +beautiful buildings, there are no rival colleges, no tutors or proctors, +and no 'gate;' nor are they independent corporations like Oxford and +Cambridge and Durham, for, though they retain some outward forms which +recall a former independence, they are now maintained and managed entirely +by the State, which pays the professors and provides the necessary +buildings. The subjects to be taught and the examinations to be held in +the various faculties are laid down by statute. Consequently the +Universities show the same want of individuality as the schools, and, to +an outsider at least, there seems to be nothing of the 'Alma Mater' about +them under the present _regime,_ and no real ground for preferring any one +of them to the others. At the same time, fathers usually send their sons +to the Universities at which they themselves have studied, except when +they and the professors happen to hold very different political opinions, +but such a custom may be due as much to the national love of order and +regularity as to any real attachment to a particular University. As to +the political opinions of professors, their influence on the students +cannot be very great in the majority of cases, being limited to the effect +produced by lectures, for there is no social intercourse between teacher +and taught. The professors, though very learned men, do not enjoy any +great social standing, and the title does not carry with it anything like +the same rank as in some other countries. + +The system on which these Universities work may be a sound and logical one +so far as it goes, and more up-to-date than the English residential +system, which its enemies deride as mediaeval and monastic; but it is a +cast iron system, designed with the object of preparing men for +examinations, and one which does nothing to discover promising scholars or +to encourage original work and research among those who have taken their +degrees, or, according to the Dutch phrase, have gained their 'promotion'. +There are no scholarships, nor anything that might serve the same purpose, +though some such institution could hardly find a more favourable soil than +that of Holland. Instruction of a very learned and thorough character is +offered to those who will and can receive it, and that is all. The classes +are open to all who pay the necessary fees, which are trifling, though the +degree of Doctor may only be granted to those who have passed the +'Gymnasium' final or an equivalent examination, and, provided he makes +these payments, a student is free to do as he pleases, so far as his +University is concerned. + +Discipline there is none, except in very rare cases, when the law provides +for the expulsion of offenders; only theological candidates are indirectly +restrained from undue levity by having to get a certificate of good +conduct at the end of their course. There is no chapel to keep, for the +student's religion and morals are entirely his own concern; there are no +'collections,' for if a man does not choose to read he injures no one but +himself by his idleness; and there is no Vice-Chancellor's Court, for in +theory students are on the same footing as other people before the law, +though in practice the police seldom interfere with them more than they +can help. It is not surprising that young men not long from school should +sometimes abuse such exceptional freedom, but their ideas of enjoyment are +rather strange in foreign eyes. One of their favourite amusements seems to +be driving about the town and neighbourhood in open carriages. On special +occasions all the members of a club turn out, wearing little round caps of +their club colours, and accompanied as likely as not by a band, and drive +off in a procession to some neighbouring town, where they dine; in the +night or next morning they return, all uproariously drunk, singing and +shouting, waving flags and flinging empty wine-bottles about the road. I +do not wish to imply that all Dutch students behave in this way, but such +exhibitions are unfortunately not uncommon, and show to what lengths +'freedom' is permitted to go. + +There is a limit, however, even to the liberty of students, as appears +from the following anecdote. One of these young men gave a wine-party in +his lodgings, and some one proposed, by way of a lark, to wake up a young +woman who lived in the house opposite, and fetch her out of bed, so a +rocket was produced and fired through the open window. The bombardment had +the desired effect, but it also set the house on fire, and the joker's +father was called on to make good the damage. Then the police took the +matter up, and the culprit got several weeks' imprisonment for arson, +after which he returned to the University and resumed his interrupted +studies. There was no question of rustication, as the court simply +inflicted the penalty laid down in the Code, and there was no other +authority that had power to interfere in the matter at all. + +As may well be imagined, students are not generally popular with the +townsfolk, who resent the unequal treatment of the two classes, not +because they wish for the same measure of license, but because anything +like rowdiness contrasts strongly with their own habits; and extravagance, +not an uncommon failing among students in Holland or elsewhere, is +absolutely repugnant to the average Dutch citizen. This feeling of +resentment seems to be growing, and has already had some slight effect +upon the civil authorities; if the students find some day that they have +lost their privileged position, they will have only themselves to thank, +and certainly the change will do them no harm. + +But though a certain number go to the Universities merely to amuse +themselves or to be in the fashion, most of them work well, even if they +do not attend lectures regularly all through their course. In some +faculties private coaching offers a quicker and easier way to 'promotion' +than the more orthodox one through the class-rooms. No doubt there are +some who are in no hurry to leave the attractions of student life, but not +many cling to them so persistently as a certain Dutch student, to whom a +relative bequeathed a liberal allowance, to be paid him as long as he was +studying for his degree. He became known as 'the eternal student,' to the +great wrath of the heirs who waited for the reversion of his legacy. For +most men the ordinary course is long enough, for it averages perhaps six +or seven years, though there is no fixed time, and candidates may take the +examinations as soon as they please. The nominal course--that is, the time +over which the lectures extend--varies in the different faculties, from +four years in law to seven or eight in medicine, but very few men manage, +or attempt, to take a degree in law in four years. The other faculties are +theology, science, including mathematics, and literature and philosophy. + +The degree of Doctor is given in these five faculties, and to obtain it +two examinations must be passed, the candidate's and the doctoral. After +passing the latter a student bears the title _doctorandus_ until he has +written a book or thesis and defended it _viva voce_ before the +examiners. He is then 'promoted' to the degree, a ceremony which +generally entails, indirectly, a certain amount of expense. It appears to +be the correct thing for the newly-made doctor to drive round in state, +adorned with the colours of his club and attended by friends gorgeously +disguised as lacqueys, and leave copies of his book at the houses of the +professors and his club fellows, after which he, of course, celebrates +the occasion in the invariable Dutch fashion, with a dinner. Many +students, however, are not qualified to try for a degree, not having been +through the 'Gymnasia,' and others do not wish to do so. Sometimes the +candidate's examination qualifies one to practise a profession, and is +open to all, in other cases, in the faculty of medicine for example, it +gives no qualification, and is only open to candidates for the degree, +but then there is another, a 'professional' examination, for those who do +not aim at the ornamental title. + +The cost of living at the Universities naturally depends very much on the +student's tastes and habits. He pays to the University only 200 florins +(_L16 13s 4d_) a year for four years, after which he may attend lectures +free of charge, so the minimum annual expenditure is small; but it should +be borne in mind that the course is about twice as long as in England. A +good many students live with their families, which is cheaper than living +in lodgings; and as nearly all classes are represented, there is a +considerable difference in their standards of life. Some are certainly +extravagant, as in all Universities, which tends to raise prices, but, on +the other hand, many of them are men whose parents can ill afford the +expense, but are tempted by the value which attaches to a University +career in Holland, and these bring the average down. Between these two +extremes there are plenty who do very well on L150 or so a year, and L200 +is probably considered a sufficiently liberal allowance by parents who +could easily afford a larger sum. Even the students' corps need not lead +to any great expense, as it consists of a number of minor clubs, and +nearly every one joins it, so that the pace is not always the same; +students who wish to keep their expenses down naturally join with friends +who are similarly situated, leaving the more extravagant clubs to the +young bloods who have plenty of money to spare. + +The corps is the only tie which holds the students together where there +are no colleges, and athletics play but a very small part. Each University +has its corps, to which all the students belong except a few who take no +part in the typical student life, and are known as the 'boeven,' or +'knaves.' A Rector and Senate are elected annually from among the members +of four or five years' standing to manage the affairs of the corps. In +order to become a member, a freshman, or 'green,' as he is called in +Holland, has to go through a rather trying initiation, which lasts for +three or four weeks. Having given in his name to the Senate, he must call +on the members of the corps and ask them to sign their names in a book, +which is inspected by the Senate from time to time, and at each visit he +comes in for a good deal of 'ragging,' for, as he may not go away until +he has obtained his host's signature, he is completely at the mercy of his +tormentors. If he does not obey their orders implicitly and give any +information they may require about his private affairs, he is likely to +have a bad time, but as long as he is duly submissive he is generally let +off with a little harmless fooling. One 'green,' a shy and retiring youth, +who did not at all relish the impertinent inquiries which were made into +his morals and family history, was made to stand at the window and give a +full and particular account of himself to the passers-by, with interesting +details supplied by the company. Sometimes, however, the joking is more +brutal and less amusing. For instance, as a punishment for shirking the +bottle, the victim was compelled to kneel on the floor with a funnel in +his mouth, while his tormentors poured libations down his throat. + +When the 'green time' is over the new members of the corps are installed +by the Rector, and drive round the town in procession, finishing up, of +course, with a club dinner. The corps has its head-quarters in the +Students' Club, which corresponds more or less to the 'Union' at an +English University, though differing from the latter in two important +respects: first, there are no debates, and secondly, the members are +exclusively students, for, as I have already noticed, there is no social +intercourse between the professors and their pupils. The reading-rooms at +the club are a favourite lounge of a great many of the students, but it +must be admitted that the literature supplied there is not always of a +very wholesome kind, seeing that it includes 'realism' of the most daring +description, with illustrations to match, and obscene Parisian comic +papers. Every member of the corps also belongs to one of the minor clubs +of which it is made up, and which are apparently nothing more than +messes, very often with only a dozen members, or less. + +A few sport clubs exist, also under the control of the corps, but they do +not play a very prominent part, for the taste for athletic exercises is +confined to a small minority. Considering the small number of players, the +proficiency attained in the exotic games of football and hockey is +surprisingly high. The rowing is even better, and attracts a larger +number, being perhaps more suited to the physical characteristics of the +race than those games for which agility is more necessary than weight and +strength. Boat-races are held annually between the several Universities, +in which the form of the crews is generally very good. If I am not +mistaken, some of the Dutch crews that have rowed at Henley represented +University clubs. The typical student, however, though well enough endowed +with bone and muscle, has no ambition whatever to become an athlete, or to +submit to the fatigue and self-denial of training. Probably the way he +lives and his aversion to athletics, more than the length of his course of +study, account for his elderly appearance, for he is not only obviously +older than the average undergraduate, but begins to look positively +middle-aged both in face and figure almost before he has done growing. + +Before leaving the subject of the students' corps, mention must be made +of the great carnival which each corps holds every five years to +commemorate the foundation of its University. The 'Lustrum-Maskerade,' +which is the chief item in the week of festivities, is a historical +pageant representing some event in the mediaeval history of Holland. The +chief actors are chosen from among the wealthiest of the students, and +spare no trouble or expense in preparing their get-up, while the minor +parts are allotted to the various clubs within the corps, each club +representing a company of retainers or men-at-arms in the service of one +of the mock princes or knights. For six days the players retain their +gorgeous costumes and act their parts, even when excursions are made in +the neighbourhood in company with the friends and relatives who come to +join in the commemoration, and the mixture of mediaeval and modern +costumes in the streets has a somewhat ludicrous effect. On the first day +the visitors are formally welcomed by the officers of the corps. Former +students of all ages meet their old comrades, and the men of each year, +after dining together, march together to the garden or park where the +reception is held. Anything less like the usual calm and serious +demeanour of these seniors than the way in which they dance and sing +through the town is not to be imagined, for the oldest and most sedate of +them are as wildly and ludicrously enthusiastic as the youngest student; +and their arrival at the reception, with bands of music, skipping about +and roaring student songs like their sons and grandsons, is, to say the +least, comical. But the occasion only comes once in five years, and they +naturally make the most of it. + +The next day the Masquerade takes place, beginning with a procession to +the ground, and is repeated two or three times before huge crowds of +spectators, for the townsmen are as excited as the students and the +relatives, at least on the first two days. Great pains are always taken to +ensure historical correctness in every detail, and the leading parts are +often admirably played, and it must be the unromantic dress of the +lookers-on that spoils the effect and makes one think of a circus. If only +the crowd could be brought into harmony with the masqueraders in the +matter of clothes the illusion might be complete; as it is, one can hardly +imagine for a moment that the knights who charge so bravely down the +lists mean to do one another any serious damage. A tournament is very +often the subject of the pageant, or an important part of it, or sometimes +a challenge and single combat are introduced as a sort of _entr'acte_. For +the last four days of the feast there is no fixed order of procedure; +balls, concerts, garden-parties, and so on are arranged as may be most +convenient, while the intervals are spent in visits, dinners, and drives. +Not until the end of the week does any student lay aside his gay costume +and resume the more prosaic garments of his own times. All through the +week the influence of the corps, which is the life of the University from +the student's point of view, is manifest in the collective character of +all the festivities, everything being done either by the corps itself or +under its direction. From a comparison of this celebration with 'Commem' +week we can, perhaps, gather a very fair idea of the typical points of +difference between the students of Holland and our own country. + + + + +Chapter XV + +Art and Letters + + + +The art of a country is ever in unity with the character of the people. It +reflects their ideas and sentiments; their history is marked in its +progress or decline; and it shows forth the influences that have been at +work in the minds and very life of the nation from which it springs. If +this is true of all countries, it is nowhere so visibly true as in +Holland. There art underwent the most decided changes during the various +periods of war and armed peace through which the little country passed. It +may truly be said that 'the first smile of the young Republic was art, for +it was only after the revolt of the Dutch against the Spanish ... that +painting reached a high grade of perfection.' One is accustomed to take it +for granted too readily that the glory of Dutch art lies in the past; that +the works and fame of a Van Eyck, a Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and +Ruysdael sum up Holland's contribution to the art of the world, and that +this chapter of its history, like the chapters which deal with its +maritime supremacy, its industrial greatness, and its struggles for +liberty, is closed for ever. Nothing could be farther from the fact. Dutch +art was never more virile, more original, more self-conscious than to-day, +when it is represented by a band of men whose genius and enthusiasm +recall the great names of the past. Professer Richard Muther has well +said, in his 'History of Modern Painting,' that, 'so far from stagnating, +Dutch art is now as fresh and varied as in the old days of its glory.' + +The Dutch painters of the present day include, indeed, quite a multitude +of men of the very first rank, and some of them, like the three brothers +Maris, are unexcelled. Jacob Maris, who died so recently as 1890, was +known for his splendid landscapes, and still more for his town pictures +and beach scenes. Willem Maris has a partiality for meadows in which +cattle are browsing in tranquil content. Thys Maris has a very different +style. He paints grey and misty figures and landscapes all hazy and +scarcely visible. His love of the obscure and the suggestive led to the +common refusal of his portraits by patrons, who complained that they +lacked distinctness. No painter, however, commands such large prices as +he, and from L2000 to L3000 is no rare figure for his canvases. + +H. W. Mesdag is Holland's most celebrated sea painter. He pictures the +ever rolling ocean with marvellous power, and carries the song of the +waves and the cry of the wild sea birds into his great paintings, which +speak to one of the life and toil of the fishermen, the never weary +waters, and the ever varying aspects of sea and sky. In this domain he is +unrivalled, and he has certainly done some magnificent work. Mesdag has an +exhibition of his own works every Sunday morning in his studio at The +Hague, and any one who wishes is allowed to visit it, while for the +general public's benefit there is the Mesdag Panorama in the same town. + +Mauve, who died in 1887, was best known for his pastoral scenes. His +pictures of sheep on the moors and fens recall pleasant memories of +summer days and sunny hours. + +Josef Israels went largely to the life of fishermen for his motives, +though one of his best-known works is that noble one, 'David before Saul.' + +Bosboom one naturally associates with church interiors, wonderfully well +done; Blommers, Artz, and Bles likewise paint interiors, the first two +choosing their subjects by preference from the houses of the working +classes, while Bles confines himself to the dwellings of the wealthy. + +Bisschop is unquestionably the best of the Dutch portrait-painters, though +his still life is considered even more artistic than his portraits. The +foremost of the lady portrait and figure painters is Therese Schwartze, +who, like Josselin de Jong, often takes Queen Wilhelmina as a grateful +subject for her brush. + +The foregoing may be regarded as painters of the old school, though every +one has so much originality as to be virtually the initiator of a distinct +direction. The newer schools are represented by men like J. Toorop, +Voerman, Verster, Camerlingh Onnes, Bauer, and Hoytema. + +Toorop is the well-known symbolist. His style is Oriental rather than +Dutch, and his topics for the most part are mystical in character. He is +famous also for his decorative art. This many-sided man is probably the +greatest artist soul in Holland. He is expert in almost every domain of +art. Etching, pastel and water-colour drawing, oil-painting, wood-cutting, +lithography, working in silver, copper, and brass, and modelling in clay, +belong equally to his accomplishments, though as a painter he is, of +course, best known. + +Voerman, once known for his minutely painted flowers, is now a pronounced +landscape painter. His cloud studies are marvellous, though perhaps the +landscape colours are somewhat hard and overdone in the effort to produce +the desired effects. He paints, as a rule, the rolling cumulus, and is one +of the first of the younger artists. + +Verster is known best for his impressionist way of painting flowers in +colour patches, though he has now taken to the minute and mystical method +of representing them. + +Onnes, like Toorop, is a decided mystic, and there is a vein of mysticism +in all his paintings. He is famous for his light effects in glass and +pottery, and has especially a wonderful knack of painting choirs in +churches ail in a dreamy light. + +Bauer is better known, perhaps, by his drawings and etchings than by his +paintings. He paints with striking beauty old churches, temples, and +mosques, generally the exteriors, and the effect of his minute work is +wonderful. Bauer is also one of the finest of Dutch decorative artists. + +Hoytema is known for his illustrations. Animal life is his _forte_, +especially owls and monkeys. + +Among other younger painters who, though not yet of European reputation, +may still be classed with many of the older generation, are Jan Veth and +H. Haverman, both of whom excel in portraits. The lady artists who have +best held their own with the stronger sex include, in addition to those +named, Mme Bilders van Bosse, who paints woods and leafy groves with +striking power; and the late Mme. Vogels-Roozeboom, who found her +inspiration in the flora of Nature. In her day (she died in 1894) she was +the first of floral painters, and whenever she raised her brush the finest +of flowers rose up as at the touch of a magic wand. Second to her, though +not so well known by far, came Mlle W. van der Sande Bakhuizen. + +The Dutch are not only a nation of painters, but a nation of +picture-lovers, though in Holland, as in other countries, one not seldom +sees upon walls from which better would be expected tawdry art, about +which all that can be said is that it was bought cheap. The country +possesses a number of good public galleries, and much is done in this way +and by the frequent exhibition of paintings to foster the love of the +artistic. The principal exhibitions are those of the Pulchri Studio and +the Kunst-kring (Art Circle) at The Hague, and the 'Arti et Amicitia' at +Rotterdam. To become a working member of the Pulchri Studio is counted a +great honour, for the artists who are on the committee are very +particular as to whom they admit into their circle, and they ruthlessly +blackball any one who is at all 'amateurish' or who does not come up to +their high standard. For this reason it is that so many of the younger +artists give exhibitions of their own works as the only way of getting +them at all known. + +Sculpture is not much practised in Holland. It would seem to be an art +belonging almost entirely to Southern climes, although there was a time +when the Dutch modelled busts and heads from snow. The monument of Piet +Hein was originally made of snow, and so much did it take the fancy of the +people of Delftshaven, the place of his birth, that they had a stone +monument erected for him on the place where the one of snow had stood. It +is only recently, however, that sculpture has been re-introduced into +Holland as a fine art, and those artists who have taken it up need hardly +fear competition with their brethren of other Continental countries, for +their names are already on every tongue. The first amongst those who have +shown real power is Pier Pander, the cripple son of a Frisian mat-plaiter, +who came over from Rome (where he had gone to complete his studies) at +the special invitation of the Queen to model a bust of the Prince Consort, +Duke Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Other notable sculptors are Van +Mattos, Ode, Bart de Hove, and Van Wyck. + +There is also another art which is in considerable vogue, and in which +much good work has been done--that of wood-carving. In this the painter +and illustrator Hoytema has shown considerable skill. Needless to say, +Holland is also as famous now as ever for its pottery. Delft ware was ever +the fame of the Dutch nation, though the Rosenbach and Gouda pottery is +now gaining approval. It may be doubted, however, whether the love for the +latter is altogether without affectation. One is inclined to believe that +many of its admirers are enthusiastic to order. They admire because the +leading authorities assure them it is their duty so to do. + +The Netherlands, though very limited in area and small in population, can +also boast of having contributed much that is excellent to the literature +of the world, and in its roll of famous literary men are to be found names +which would redeem any country from the charge of intellectual barrenness. +Spinoza, Erasmus, and Hugo de Groot (Grotius), to name no others, form a +trio whose influence upon the thought of the world, and upon the movements +which make for human progress, has been beyond estimation, and which still +belongs to-day to the imperishable inheritance of the race. + +As illustrating the world-wide fame of Hugo de Groot it is interesting to +note that on the occasion of the Peace Conference held at The Hague in +1899 the American representatives invited all their fellow-delegates to +Delft, and there, in the church of his burial, papers were read in which +the claim of the great thinker to perpetual honour was brought to the +memories of the assembled spokesmen of the civilized world. + +It is with the modern literature and literary movements of Holland, +however, that these pages must concern themselves, and for practical +purposes we may confine ourselves principally to the latter part of the +completed century. For the early part of the nineteenth century was by no +means prolific in literary achievement, and does not boast of many great +names, if one disregards the writers whose lives linked that century with +its predecessor, like Betjen Wolff and Agatha Deken. When, in 1814-15, +Holland again became a separate kingdom, that important event failed to +mark a new era in Dutch literature. Strange to say, though the political +changes of the time powerfully influenced the sister arts of music and +painting, which show strong traces of the transition of that crisis in the +nation's history, upon literature they had no effect whatever. Before 1840 +no very brilliant writers came to the front, though the period was not +without notable names, such as Willem Bilderdijk, Hendrik C. Tollens, and +Isaac da Costa, all of whom possessed a considerable vogue. Bilderdijk's +chief claim to fame is the fact that he wrote over 300,000 lines of verse, +and regarded himself as the superior of Shakespeare; Tollens had a name +for rare patriotism, and wrote many fine historical poems and ballads; +while Da Costa, who was a converted Jew, had to the last, in spite of a +considerable popularity as a poet, to contend with the oftentimes fatal +shafts of ridicule. + +A new period opened, however, about 1840, in the _Gids_ movement promoted +by E.J. Potgieter and R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink, who were editors of +the _Gids_ and the severest of literary critics. The _Gids_ was the Dutch +equivalent of the _Edinburgh Review_ under Jeffrey, and its criticisms +were so much dreaded by the nervous Dutch author of the day that the +magazine received the name of 'The Blue Executioner,' blue being the +colour of its cover. If, however, Potgieter and Bakhuizen were unsparing +in the use of the tomahawk, the service which they rendered to Dutch +letters by their drastic treatment of crude and immature work was healthy +and lasting in influence, for it undoubtedly raised the tone and standard +of literary work, both in that day and for a long time to come, and so +helped to establish modern Dutch literature on a firm basis. Perhaps the +foremost figure in the literary revival which followed was Conrad Busken +Huet, unquestionably the greatest Dutch critic of the last century, whose +book 'Literary Criticisms and Fancies,' which contains a discriminating +review of all writers from Bilderdijk forward, is essential to a thorough +study of Dutch literature during the nineteenth century. Huet also +emancipated literature from the orthodoxy in thought which had +characterized the earlier Dutch writers, especially by his novel +'Lidewyde.' + +No novelist has more truly reflected the old fashioned ideas and simple +home life of Holland than Nicholas Beets, who still lives and even writes +occasionally, though almost a nonagenarian. His 'Camera Obscura,' which +has been translated into English, entitles Beets to be recognized as the +Dickens of Holland, and his two novels, 'De Familie Stastoc' and 'De +Familie Kegge,' are familiar to every Dutchman. The historical novelists, +Jacob van Lennep and Mrs. Bosboom Toussaint, should not be overlooked. + +One of the foremost Dutch poets of the century is Petrus Augustus de +Genestet. Although he is not free from rhetoric, and frequently uses old +and worn-out similes, his general view of things is wider and his feeling +deeper than those of any of his contemporaries in verse. The contrast, for +example, between him and Carel Vosmaer, though they belong to the same +period, is very striking, for while the poetry of Genestet is full of +feeling and ideality, that of Vosmaer is unemotional; and though he +dresses his thoughts in beautiful words, the impression left upon the mind +after reading his poetry is that which might be left after looking at a +gracefully modelled piece of marble--it is fine as art, but cold and dead, +and so awakens no responsive sympathy in the mind of the beholder. + +But the greatest of modern Dutch authors, and the one who may be termed +the forerunner of the renaissance of 1880, was E. Douwes Dekker, who died +thirteen years ago. Dekker had an eventful career. He went to the Dutch +Indies at the age of twenty-one, and there spent some seventeen years in +official life, gradually rising to the position of Assistant Resident of +Lebac. While occupying that office his eyes were opened to the defective +System of government existing in the Colonies, and the abuses to which the +natives were subjected. He tried to interest the higher officials on +behalf of the subject races, but as all his endeavours proved unavailing +he became disheartened, and, resigning his post, returned to Holland with +the object of pleading in Government circles at home the cause which he +had taken so deeply to heart. As a deaf ear was still turned to all his +entreaties he decided, as a last resource, to appeal for a hearing at the +bar of public opinion. He entered literature, and wrote the stirring story +'Max Havelaar,' in which he gave voice to the wrongs of the natives and +the callous injustices perpetrated by the Colonial authorities. The book +made a great sensation, and has unquestionably had very beneficial results +in opening the public's eyes to some of the more glaring defects of +Colonial administration. + +In 1880 Dutch literature entered upon an entirely new phase. The chief +authors of the movement then begun were Lodewryk van Deyssel, Albert +Verwey, and Willem Kloos, who in the monthly magazine, _De Nieuwe Gids_, +exercised by their trenchant criticisms the same beneficial and +restraining influence upon the literature of the day as Potgieter and +Bakhuizen did forty years before. The columns of the _Nieuwe Gids_ were +only opened to the very best of Dutch authors, and any works not coming up +to the editors' high ideas of literary excellence were unmercifully +'slated' by these competent critics. Independence was the prominent +characteristic of the authors of the period. They shook themselves free +from the old thoughts and similes, and created new paths, in which their +minds found freer expression. The new thoughts demanded new words, hence +came about the practice of word-combination, which was in direct defiance +of the conservative canons of literary style which had hitherto prevailed, +so that nowadays almost every author adds a new vocabulary of his own to +the Dutch language, so enhancing the charm of his own writings and adding +to the literary wealth of the nation in general. + +The poetess whom Holland to-day most delights to honour is Helena Lapidoth +Swarth, whose works increase in worth and beauty every year. Her command +of the Dutch language and her power of wresting from it literary resources +which are unattainable by any other writer have made her the admiration of +all critics of penetration. Louis Couperas is also another living poet of +mark, who, however, does not confine himself to formal versification, for +his prose is also poetry. His best works are 'Elme Vere,' the first book +he wrote, and the characters in which are said to have been all taken from +life, and his novels 'Majesty' and 'Universal Peace,' which have gained +for him a European reputation, for they have been translated into most +modern languages. + +Women authors who have written works with a special tendency are Cornelie +Huygens, who is known particularly by her novel 'Barthold Maryan;' Mrs. +Goekoop de Jong, who champions the cause of women's rights; and Anna de +Savornin Lohman, who, in a striking book entitled, 'Why question any +longer?' has written very bitterly against the political conditions of the +circle of society in which she moves. + +While the authors of the present day are beneficially leavening popular +opinion by inculcating higher and healthier sentiments, there are also +authors in Holland, as elsewhere, who debase good metal, and write from a +purely material standpoint. To this class of authors belong Marcellus +Emants and Frans Netcher. + +Of Dutch dramatic writers, Herman Heyermans is one of the most noteworthy, +and some of his plays have been translated into French, and produced in +Paris theatres. + +It is a great drawback to literary effort in Holland that the _honoraria_ +paid to authors are so low that most writers who happen not to be +pecuniarily independent--and they are the majority--are unable to make a +tolerable subsistence at home by the pen alone, and are obliged to +contribute to foreign publications, and some even resort to teaching. Many +Dutch authors of high rank write anonymously in English, French, and +German magazines, and probably earn far more in that way than by their +contributions to Dutch ephemeral literature, for the ordinary fee for a +sheet of three thousand words--which is the average length of a printed +sheet in a Dutch magazine--is only forty francs. + +The pity is that Dutch literature itself is not known as well as it +deserves to be, for any one who takes the trouble to master the Dutch +language will find himself well repaid by the treasures of thought which +are contained in the modern authors of Holland. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +The Dutch as Readers + + + +Although printing was not invented in Holland, the nation would not have +been unworthy of that honour, for there is a widespread culture of the +book among all classes of the population, and the newspaper and periodical +press makes further a very large contribution to its intellectual food. +Nearly two thousand booksellers and publishers are engaged in the task of +bringing within easy reach of their customers everything they wish to +read. It is no unusual thing to find a decently equipped retail bookshop +in quite unimportant townlets, and even in villages. By an admirable +arrangement every publisher sends parcels of books for the various +retailers all over the country to one central house in Amsterdam--'het +Bestelhuis voor den Boekhandel' (the Booksellers' Collecting and +Distributing Office). In this establishment the publishers' parcels are +opened, and all books sent by the various publishers for one retailer are +packed together and forwarded to him, by rail, steamer, or other cheap +mode of conveyance. In consequence, any doctor, clergyman, or schoolmaster +can receive a penny or twopenny pamphlet in his out-of-the-way home, as +well as any book or periodical from London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, etc., +within a remarkably short time, without trouble, and without extra +expense in postage, by simply applying to the local bookseller. + +The Dutch are very cosmopolitan in their reading. Many children of the +superior working classes learn French at the primary schools; most +children of the middle class pick up English and German as well at the +secondary schools, and a large proportion of them are able to talk in +these three foreign languages; and as opportunities for intercourse are +not over-abundant in the smaller towns, they keep up their knowledge of +these languages by reading. Indeed, the five millions of Dutchmen are, +relatively, the largest buyers of foreign literature in Europe. The +translator, however, comes to the rescue of those who succeed in +forgetting so much of their foreign languages that they find reading them +a very mitigated enjoyment. This question of translation is rather a sore +point in the relations between Dutch and foreign authors and publishers. +The pecuniary injury done to foreign authors, however, is very slight, +while in reputation they have benefited; for if Dutch private libraries +are not without their Shakespeare, Motley, Macaulay, Dickens, Thackeray, +Kingsley, Browning, not to mention French and German classics, this is +mainly due to the fact that the parents of the present generation had the +opportunity of buying Dutch translations, and explained to their children +the value and the beauty of these works. + +Moreover, most authors and publishers in foreign countries, using +languages with world-wide circulation, are apt to miscalculate the profits +made by Dutch publishers, with their very limited market and limited sale. +A royalty of L5 for the right of translating some novel would be regarded +as a contemptibly small sum in the English book world, but L5 in Dutch +currency presses heavily on the budget of a Dutch translation, of which +only some hundred or so copies can be sold at a retail price of not quite +five shillings, and is an almost prohibitive price to pay for the +copyright of a novel which is only used as the _feuilleton_ of a local +paper with an edition of under a thousand copies a week. As a fact, many +Dutch publishers pay royalties to their foreign colleagues as soon as the +publication is important enough to bear the expense; but the majority +clearly will only give up their ancient 'right' of free translation, and +agree to join the Berne Convention, if a practicable way can be found out +of the financial difficulty. For the present, then, the Dutch are +cosmopolitan readers, direct or indirect. In the average bookseller's shop +one finds, of course, a majority of novels--novels of all sorts and +conditions--supplemented by literary essays and poems. In a number of +cases the bookseller is not merely a shopkeeper who deals in printed +matter, and supplies just what his customers ask for, but a man of +education and judgment, who is well able to give his opinion on books and +authors. Often he has read them, though oftener, of course, he is guided +by the leading monthly and weekly magazines and reviews, and by the +publishers' columns of the leading daily newspapers. The bookseller is +thus in many cases the trusted manager and guiding spirit of one or more +'Leesgezelschappen,' or 'Reading Societies.' These societies have a +history. At the end of the eighteenth century they were often political +and even revolutionary bodies. The members or subscribers met to discuss +books, pamphlets, and periodicals, but frequently they discussed by +preference the passages in the books bearing upon political conditions, +and argued improvements which they considered desirable or necessary. As +time passed by, and free institutions became the possession of the Dutch, +the political mission of the Reading Society became exhausted, but the +institution itself survived, and continues to the present day. + +The 'Leesgezelschap' owes its special form to another peculiarity of the +Dutch--their intensely domesticated, home-loving character. Family life, +with its fine and delicate intimacies between husband and wife, between +parent and children, is the most attractive feature of national existence +in the Netherlands. Family life is, indeed, the centre from which the +national virtues emanate, because there the individual members educate +each other in the practice of personal virtues. The Dutchman is not +constitutionally reserved and shy; he knows how to live a full, strong, +public life; he never shrinks from civic duties and social intercourse; +but his love of home life takes the first place after his passion for +liberty and independence. Club life in Holland is insignificant, and few +clubs even attempt to create a substitute for home life; they are merely +used for friendly intercourse for an hour or so every day, and as +better-class restaurants. A Dutchman prefers to do his reading at home, in +the domestic circle, with the members of his family, or in his study if he +follows some scientific occupation, and his 'Leesgezelschap' affords him +the opportunity of doing this. There are military, theological, +educational, philological, and all sorts of scientific reading societies, +besides those for general literature. They work on the co-operative +System. The manager is in many cases a local bookseller, buying Dutch and +foreign books, magazines, reviews, illustrated weeklies and pamphlets in +one or more copies, according to the number, the tastes, and the wants of +the members. Most societies take in books and periodicals in four +languages--Dutch, French, German, English--and so their members keep +themselves well acquainted with the world's opinion. And all this, be it +added, costs the subscriber vastly less than the fees of English +circulating libraries, with their restricted advantages and heavy expenses +of delivery. + +Between the book and the newspaper lies a form of literature which is +specifically Dutch--the 'Vlugschrift,' _brochure_, or pamphlet. The +_brochure_ is an old historical institution. In the eighteenth century it +was very popular as a vehicle for the zeal of fiery reformers who thus +vented their opinions on burning political questions of the day. There is +no necessity nowadays for these small booklets, so easily hidden from +suspicions eyes, though the _brochure_ is still used whenever, in stirring +speech or impassioned sermon, Holland's leading men address themselves to +the emotions of the hour. These _brochures_, as a rule, cost no more than +sixpence, yet, none the less, the thrifty Dutch have 'Leesgezelschappen' +which buy and circulate them among their subscribers; they take everything +from everybody, never caring whose opinions they read upon the various +subjects of current interest, a trait which evidences a very praiseworthy +lack of bias. + +This lack of bias is not so obvions so far as newspaper reading is +concerned. Like other people, the Dutch take such newspapers as defend or +represent their own political opinions, and often affect towards journals +on the other side a contemptuous indifference which is only half real. + +Political parties in Holland differ slightly from those of Great Britain, +except that in the former country politics and religion go together. Thus +in Holland a Liberal who at the same time is not advanced in religious +thought hardly exists, and would scarcely be trusted. In consequence the +Liberals were not defeated at the last general elections because they were +Liberals, but because their opponents (the Anti-Revolutionists and Roman +Catholics) denounced them as irreligious and atheistical. In political +strife the religious controversy takes the form of an argument for and +against the influence of religious dogma upon politics and education. + +Now, as far as journalism goes, the Liberal and Radical newspapers +unquestionably take the lead. The Roman Catholics are like the +Anti-Revolutionists, very anxious to provide their readers with wholesome +news, but this anxiety is not successfully backed up by care that this +wholesome news shall be early as well; hence their journalism is somewhat +behind the times. Of most of the progressive newspapers it may be said +that the whole of the contents are interesting; as to the rest, they are +only interesting because of the leading articles, which are sometimes +written by eminent men. + +As far as circulation goes, _Het Nieuws van den Dag_ can boast to be the +leading journal, its edition running to nearly 40,000 copies a day. Up to +the present its editors have been advanced, or 'Modern,' Protestant +clergymen, in the persons of Simon Gorter, H. de Veer, and P.H. Ritter. +Although not taking a strong line in politics, its inclinations are +decidedly towards moderate Liberalism, and, thanks to its cheap +price--14s. 6d. per annum--its extensive, prudently and carefully selected +and worded supply of news, and its sagacious management, it became the +family paper of the Dutch, excellently suiting the quiet taste of the +middle class of the nation. It is found everywhere save in those few +places where the Roman Catholic Church has sufficient influence to get it +boycotted. The _Nieuws_, as it is generally called, gives from +twenty-four to thirty-two, and even more, pages of closely printed matter, +of which the advertisements occupy rather over than under half. One does +not see it read in public more than any other Dutch paper, and two reasons +account for this. One is the fact that, as has been said, a Dutchman +prefers to do his reading at home--'met een boekje, in een hoekje' ('with +my book in a quiet corner') is the Dutchman's ideal of cosy literary +enjoyment. Then, too, Dutch newspaper publishers prefer a system of safe +quarterly subscriptions to the chance of selling one day a few thousand +copies less than the other, since even the largest circulation in Holland +is too limited for risky commercial vicissitudes. Hence they make the +price for single numbers so high that only the prospect of long hours in a +railway-carriage frightens a Dutchman into buying one or more newspapers. + +The _Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant_ is another typical Dutch newspaper, but +appealing to quite other instincts than the _Nieuws._ In their quiet way +the Dutch are rather proud of their _Nieuwe Kotterdammer_, which inspires +something like awe for its undeniable, but slightly ponderous, virtues. +The _Nieuwe Rotterdammer_ is absolutely Liberal, and stands no Radical or +Social Democratic nonsense; its leading articles are lucid, cool, logical, +and to the point; it has correspondents everywhere, at home and abroad; +and all staunch Liberals of a clear-cut, even dogmatic type, who love Free +Trade and look upon municipal and State intervention as pernicious, swear +by it. The present chief editor is Dr. Zaayer, formerly a Liberal member +of the Second Chamber of the States-General, a shrewd, well-read Dutchman, +with a splendid University education; and the manager, J.C. Nijgh, is as +clever a man of business as Rotterdam can produce. As far as it is +possible to lead Dutchmen by printed matter, the _Nieuwe Rotterdammer_ +does it. Its supply of news is so fresh and so reliable that everybody +reads it, even the Roman Catholics in North Brabant and Limburg, Holland's +two Catholic counties. + +The next important newspaper is _Het Algemeen Handelsblad_ of Amsterdam, +which is peculiarly the journal of the Amsterdam merchants, shipowners, +and traders. The _Handelsblad_ is not so exclusively Liberal as its +competitor in Rotterdam, for its inclinations are of a more advanced turn, +and it is always ready to admit rather Radical articles on social matters +if written by serious men. Its chief editor is Dr. A. Polak, of whom it is +said that what he does not know about the working and meaning of the Dutch +constitution and the Dutch law is hardly worth knowing. His articles +display a calm, sound, scientific brain and an honest, straightforward +mind. Its managing editor is Charles Boissevain, whose contributions to +the paper, entitled 'Van Dag tot Dag' ('From Day to Day'), are equally +admirable for brilliancy of style, broadness of spirit, and the manly +outspokenness of their contents. This journal has likewise an extensive +staff and a huge army of correspondents at home and abroad. + +A third Liberal journal of growing influence is the Radical _Vaderland_, +of which the late Minister of the Interior, Mr. H. Goeman Borgesius, now a +member of the Second Chamber, was chief editor during many years, though +there no longer exists any personal connexion between the two, and the +_Vaderland_ is, if anything, more advanced in politics than its former +editor. Its chief influence is at The Hague, formerly a stronghold of +Conservatism, until the Conservative party disappeared entirely. + +Other Liberal, Radical, and Social Democratic newspapers are published +all over the country, the most important and influential being the +Liberal-democratic _Arnhemsche Courant._ + +Mr. Troelstra, one of the Socialist leaders, edits a daily, _Het Volk_ +('The People'), a well-written party newspaper, whose influence, however, +does not extend beyond its party. + +Professor Abraham Kuyper, leader of the Anti-Revolutionist or Calvinist +party, the largest but one in the country, was editor of the _Standaard_ +until he became President Minister of the Netherlands. In opposition to +the Liberal principle, as formulated by the Italian reformer Cavour, 'A +Free Church in a Free State,' he maintains that the Bible, being God's +Word, is the only possible basis for any State, and holds that the King +and the Government derive their power and authority not from the people, +but from God. His _Standaard_ is another proof that whatever this +universal genius does bears the unmistakable stamp of his power and +personality. One may be thoroughly opposed to his principles, but nobody +can help admiring the sterling merit of his leading articles. If Kuyper +writes or speaks upon any subject under the sun, you will be sure to find +him thoroughly acquainted with it; but then his turn of mind is so +original and his style is so brilliant, that he discloses points of view +which give it fresh interest to those who most cordially disagree with +him. The brilliancy of his journalistic powers is not confined, however, +to his leaders. The _Standaard_ has another and more purely polemical +feature, its 'Driestars'--short paragraphs, separated in the column by +three asterisks, whence their name. These 'Driestars' are the pride and +the wonder of the Dutch Press, on account of their trenchant, clever, +courageous wording, a wording which is sure to incite the opponent to +bitter defence or fiery attack, and to provide the adherent with an +argument so finely sharpened and polished that he delights in the +possession of so excellent a weapon. + +Dr. Kuyper's political opponent in the Calvinist party is Mr. A. F. de +Savornin Lohman, the leader of the aristocrats, whereas Kuyper is the head +of the 'kleine luyden'--the humble toilers of the fields and towns. Mr. +Lohman was a member of the first Calvino-Catholic Cabinet, and is still a +great power in his party; in consequence his _Nederlander_ exerts some +influence, though not nearly so much as the _Standaard_. + +The two most prominent Roman Catholic newspapers are the Conservative +_Tyd_ ('Time') and the somewhat democratic _Centrum_. Both are party +papers pure and simple, and are excellently edited, so far as party +politics are concerned, by clever, well educated, well read men. The +_Centrum_ frequently enjoys the co-operation of Dr. Herman Schaepman, the +priest-poet, whose somewhat ponderous eloquence is agreeably relieved by a +glowing enthusiasm and a refreshing force of conviction. + +Kuyper, Boissevain and Schaepman are, indeed, three journalists of whom +any country might be proud. Their style, their individuality, and their +mental power are equally remarkable, and though living and working in +different grooves of life, using different modes of thought, and +cherishing different ideals, they powerfully impress and influence their +readers by the purity of their aims, the honesty of their convictions, and +the chivalry of their controversial methods. But of the three Boissevain +is the only one who is a journalist for the sake of journalism. Yet +neither Calvinist nor Catholic journal tries to compete with the _Nieuwe +Rotterdammer_ or the _Handelsblad_ in the publication of original and +high-class information. They aim rather at providing their readers with +the necessary party arguments, and the news is a matter of secondary +importance. + +As to the provinces in general, of the 1300 towns and villages of Holland, +nearly 300 are the happy possessors of a local newspaper of some +description, and altogether 1700 daily and weekly journals, devoted +variously to the representation of political, clerical, mercantile, +scientific, and other interests, are published in the whole country. + +The Dutch like to see more than one newspaper, but the majority of people +cannot afford to be dual subscribers, and a great many cannot even afford +to buy a single news-sheet regularly. Hence agencies exist for circulating +the papers from one reader to another. Those who receive them straight +from the publisher pay most, and those who are contented to enjoy their +news when one, two, or three days old pay but a small fee. The newspaper +circulating agency is very general in Holland, and in centres of +restricted domestic resources it plays a very useful place in social and +political life. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +Political Life and Thought + + + +Holland is a democratic kingdom. Democracy was born there in the sixteenth +century, and is still unquestionably thriving. But democracy was born in +peculiar circumstances; it was reared by men whose ideas of democracy +differed, for, while the leaders of the nation consistently worked for +popular government, they did not all or always mean exactly the same thing +by the word 'people,' and hence did not aim at exactly the same goal. The +French Revolution of the eighteenth century upset the outward form of the +Dutch Commonwealth; it did away with ancient and more or less obsolete +fetters, which proved no longer strong enough to support the growth of +political life, though still sufficiently strong to hinder it. It could do +nothing for, and add nothing to, the profound love of liberty and the +passion for independence which are dearer to every Dutchman than life +itself, but it could and did extend the blessing of political and +religious freedom to a greater number of people. Love of liberty brought +about the disestablishment of the Church, and love of toleration made +Holland follow this measure in the fifties by the emancipation of the +Roman Catholics. + +Every one who is acquainted with Dutch history understands that these two +things have as much meaning for Dutch political as for Dutch religious +life. But side by side with religious and political freedom came also +economic freedom. The guilds were abolished, and so the bonds by which the +handicrafts had been prevented from moving with the movements of the +times, and thus of living a healthy life, were swept away. The social +revolution acted like the doctor who enters a close and stuffy sick-room +and throws open the windows and door, so that the invalid may get the very +first necessity of life--fresh air. So it was with a sigh of relief that +the Dutch--and not they alone--said, 'No State interference in matters of +trade and industry, let us keep open the windows and doors!' + +No doctor, however, will compel his patient to live in a constant draught, +winter and summer, since upon one occasion a liberal admission of fresh +air was necessary to save that patient's life. There can be no doubt that +during the nineteenth century the doors and windows were kept open rather +too long. The great employers of labour were strong enough to stand the +draught, for centuries of prosperity had made them a powerful class; but +their men had no such advantages, and they were worse off when steam power +brought about another revolution by creating the so-called system of +'capitalistic production' and the growth of the large industries. Hence it +comes about that Holland, like all civilized countries, is now trying to +find out how far the windows and the doors must be closed, so as to allow +the men to live as well as the masters. This, in few words, characterizes +Dutch party politics from the social and economic side. + +Political parties in the Netherlands obviously differ not only in their +views upon political, religious, and economic issues, but also as to the +degree of precedence to be allowed to each of these three departments of +national life and thought. The Liberals say, "Politics first; if these are +sound and religion and commerce are free, everything will be right." The +Social Democrats reply, "Politics only concern us as a means of obtaining +real and substantial economic liberty and material equality; religion does +not affect us at all, and certainly does not help to solve the practical +problems of human life." Differing from both, the Anti-Revolutionists +assert, "Whosoever leaves the firm ground of God's Word, the Holy +Scriptures, as the only true basis for public and private action, can have +neither sound politics nor sound economics." The Roman Catholics also put +religion on the first plane, but they are in the most difficult position +of all. They are a minority, even a decreasing minority, and know +perfectly well that they will never be a majority; so they recognize that +in the first place they must try to be good Dutchmen, faithful, loyal +citizens of the State, while in the second place they must not give up one +single ideal of their Church. Their faith in the eternal existence of +their ecclesiastic system enables them on the one hand to be patient and +to wait, just as on the other hand it teaches them not to sit still, but +to act, to work, either by themselves or conjointly with any party that +may assist them to realize, or even to get nearer to, any of their +religious ideals. + +When the Liberals, in the middle of the nineteenth century, did an act of +great toleration by emancipating the Roman Catholic Church, the +Protestants threw over the Liberal Cabinet, and the Liberal leader, +Thorbecke, was returned to Parliament by the most Catholic town of +Holland, Maestricht, in Limburg. But afterwards the Anti-Revolutionists +raised the cry for denominational education, and the Dutch Liberals were +rather sore to find their former friends join their antagonists. The +soreness was in consequence of a miscalculation; the Liberals had +forgotten that in becoming emancipated the Roman Catholics did not become +Liberals, but remained Roman Catholics as before, faithful to their creed, +and to their ideals, even at the cost of political friendship. + +The common ground upon which Anti-Revolutionists and Roman Catholics meet +is the conviction that religion must in everything be the starting-point. +The Anti-Revolutionists take the Scriptures as such; the Roman Catholics +accept the Pope's decisions, given _ex cathedra_, as inspired by the Holy +Spirit and transmitted to him by Conclaves and Councils. For the rest, +Rome's creed is sheer idolatry to the Anti-Revolutionist Protestants, +whereas Rome looks upon ail Protestants as lost heretics. But both, again, +consider such Protestants--the so-called 'Moderns'--who reject the +Trinity, the miracles, the Divine origin of the Bible, and certain other +dogmas, as simple atheists, and as most 'Moderns' are Liberals, and +_vice-versa_, they proclaim the Liberal State to be an atheistic State. + +Strictly speaking, there is really no Conservative party in Holland, for +it ceased to exist in the beginning of the seventies. After Thorbecke gave +Holland the Liberal constitution of 1848, the Conservatives tried for a +time to obstruct the country's political development, but ultimately they +gave up the attempt, and their best and ablest men, Mr. J. Heemsherk Azn +and Earl C. Th. van Lynden van Sandenburg, headed Liberal Cabinets as men +professing very moderately progressive views, yet openly opposed to the +restoration of the somewhat autocratic and aristocratic conditions which +prevailed before 1848 in consequence of the reaction against the chaotic +era of the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet though there is +no Conservative party in Holland, there are, none the less, Conservatives +in every party. + +The Liberal party counts three sections, the Old Liberals, the +Radico-Liberals, and the Liberal Democrats. The Old Liberals adhere to +Thorbecke's principles, and maintain that it is the primary business of a +Liberal State to promote individuality and to create on this basis the +general conditions by which social development can be achieved. According +to them the State has no right to interfere in everything, to cure +everything, to provide everything, as the collectivist would like; on the +contrary, its first duty is abstinence--simply to preserve a fair field +and to show no favour. These Old Liberals, in fact, regard the State as a +legal corporation which exists merely to administer justice and to guard +the constitutional rights of its citizens. + +Their political friends and next-of-kin are the Radico-Liberals of the +'Liberal Union,' who form, for the present, the bulk of the party. They +admit the value of individual energy and enterprise, and hold that +unlimited scope must be allowed to these; they even contend that, on the +whole, the system of unfettered individualism proved to be more in the +workman's favour than the opposite; but they also admit that this +condition is not such as it might and ought to be, and in consequence they +do not object to social legislation wherever individual efforts fail. + +The advanced Liberal Democrats ('de Vryzinnige Democraten') differ +fundamentally from both the foregoing parties. They give prominence to +political rights and franchises, and hence fall foul of a leading clause +(clause 80) of the constitution, which confers electoral powers upon only +such adult male inhabitants as 'possess characteristics of capability and +prosperity.' The members of the 'Liberal Union' admit that the requirement +of a certain measure of prosperity withholds from numbers of citizens the +right to influence their country's affairs by their votes. They admit also +that the constitution ought to be altered on this point, but they doubt +whether it is sound practical politics to put this item in the foreground. +They say, in effect, 'We can quite well provide the country with adequate +social legislation either with or without the help of the disfranchised +section of the population, for if we propose measures dealing with social +problems, even the more Conservative amongst us will not object, and those +measures will come on the statute book. But there is not the slightest +chance that we shall ever get the Old Liberals to give the franchise to +poor and destitute people, who have no financial stake whatever in the +country. So by insisting upon adult suffrage you merely postpone social +legislation indefinitely. Moreover, the object of our social legislation +can only be to make the poorer class more capable and more prosperous, and +as soon as that end is gained they get the franchise automatically, +without any change of the constitution.' To this the Liberal Democrats +reply: 'Social legislation must not be regarded as a grudgingly admitted +necessity, it is the paramount duty of the State, and as social +legislation principally affects those who are now disfranchised, it is +only just to begin by affording them the opportunity of expressing their +opinions upon the subject, and hence to alter the constitution so as to +give them votes, for they know best what they want.' + +The Liberal Democrats deny, in fact, that the State can make any laws that +do not affect the social life as well as the legal position of its +citizens, and contend that those who hold that natural laws rule the +social relations of man with man, and that on this ground the State ought +to refrain from interference, merely allow the State to protect the +stronger against the weaker classes, whereas its duty is the contrary. +Positive interference in social matters is, according to them, the State's +duty, and it may only refrain when the free operation of social forces +creates no conditions or relationships which offend modern ideas of +justice and equity. + +The Democrats have, unquestionably, by their secession, greatly crippled +the strength of the Liberal party, and it will be long before the younger +generation of Liberals can take the places thus vacated and a rejuvenated +and unanimous party can issue from the present dissensions. + +The only other political party in Holland who do not accept religion as +the one safe starting-point for politics are the Social Democrats. When +the German Socialists of the school of Marx discovered how the sudden +development of steam and machinery was followed by a vast amount of +distress amongst the labouring classes, affecting also such of the lower +middle class as principally traded with workpeople, they at once jumped +at the conclusion that the same thing was bound to go on for ever. +Perhaps it was with a feeling of despair, therefore, that the father of +Dutch Social Democracy, F. Domela Nieuwenhuys, gradually drifted into +anarchism, or, as he prefers to call it, Free Socialism, and finally +abandoned all political action. The younger generation, led by F. van der +Goes, H. van Kol, and, last but not least, P. J. Troelstra, still +vigorously carry on the fray, however, and a very considerable number of +Dutch workmen follow them. Their ambition is to conquer political power +in Holland, and as soon as they have it to revolutionize, not the +country, but the statute-book, in such a manner that they may acquire the +economic power as well. Of course, they wish to abolish individual +property in all the means of production, and to make the State the owner +of all these; and it is their hope that a general love for the +commonwealth, and zeal for the general welfare of all, may take the place +of the present egotism and sordid pursuit of wealth. + +[Illustration: Parliament House at the Hague. View from the Great Lake.] + +The Anti-Revolutionists also have their Conservatives and Progressives. +Dr. Kuyper always speaks of a 'Left' and a 'Right' wing of his party, and +as the Conservative 'Right' is largely composed of the members of the +Dutch nobility, he once sneeringly called this fraction 'the men with the +double names.' Their proper title is 'Free Anti-Revolutionists,' and their +leader, Jhr. A.F. de Savornin Lohman, who in 1888, with Baron Ae. Mackay +(Lord Reay's cousin), led the first Anti-Revolutionist-Catholic majority +in the Second Chamber of the States-General. + +The third faction is headed by Dr. Bronsveld, and is called the +'Christian Historicals,' who differ on one great principle from the two +others, inasmuch as they seek the re-establishment of the Netherlands +Hervormde Kerk as State Church. + +But, however much they differ in practical measures, their common ground +is the recognition of the Holy Scriptures as the only right basis for +statesmanship, and their conviction that the present modern State is +merely a passing, non-Dutch consequence of the French Revolution and its +disastrous teachings. They all agree that the Netherlands should be +governed according to the principles that made Holland great and powerful +ever since the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Dr. Kuyper is fully +convinced that the French Revolution thrust Holland off its historical +line of development, and he wants to return, as near as possible, to the +point reached before that event, or, at any rate, to lead the State +forward in the old direction. + +All Anti-Revolutionists hold that their first civic duty is obedience to +God;--if conscience requires resistance to the authorities, resist them, +whatever you may suffer. At the same time they eschew clericalism and +object to every form of State Church. Hence one of their chief antipathies +is clause 171 of the constitution, which continues in the same way as +before the disestablishment of the Church the payments by the Exchequer to +various clergymen of all denominations. In opposition to this they demand +entire and absolute liberty and equality for all churches and confessions, +and, theoretically, admit that one can be a member of their party without +being of their creed. With regard to education, they do not desire to +substitute denominational State schools for the present neutral ones, but +they object that at present the State compels parents, who desire +religious schools for their children, not only to find all necessary +money for these 'free schools,' but to contribute in addition to the +school taxes, to the advantage of such parents as hold that secular and +religious education are better disconnected, since religious education +must needs be dogmatical and sectarian, and that the churches and not the +State should look to this, whereas school education can quite well be +given without reference to religion at all. + +The Anti-Revolutionist position, on the other hand, is that it is not the +State's duty to provide school or any other education, all education being +a matter of private concern for the individual family, and not a public +business at all; though they allow that where parents are unable to +maintain them schools may be erected by the taxpayers' money. They also +deprecate legislation against intemperance, immorality, and prostitution, +because they think such laws do not remove the evils themselves, but +merely attack their visible signs, and relieve moral trespassers of part +of their responsibility by protecting them against certain consequences of +their acts. They are opposed to the legal and compulsory observance of the +Sabbath, holding this to be an affair of the churches and of individuals; +but they support laws to compel employers to allow their men a sufficient +weekly rest on Sundays. They admit a limited State interference in social +matters, but contend that it must not discourage individual effort, or +create a host of officials, inspectors, and controllers. The franchise +must, according to them, never enable one section of the nation to +supersede the other by sheer force of numbers; they do not admit that the +majority System is the ultimate and only criterion of legality and +justice; moreover, the family being the unit from which the commonwealth +has grown into existence, they contend that heads of families are the +natural electors. Where the Old Liberals say that the financial test is +the right one for voters, the Anti-Revolutionists hold that no one has a +real stake in the country who has not a family and knows nothing of the +responsibilities involved thereby. Dr. Kuyper is the democratic leader of +what he calls, in classical but antiquated Dutch, the 'Kleine luyden' (the +'Little people') amongst the Anti-Revolutionists. He knows that the +'double-named' Free Anti-Revolutionists have little sympathy with his +social programme, but this does not matter, since they are perfectly well +aware of the fact that they owe everything, as far as political power +goes, to the 'Little people.' + +Finally, there is the Left Wing of the Roman Catholic party, who derive +their social convictions from Pope Leo's Encyclica 'Rerum Novarum,' which +affords a great many points upon which joint action is possible, for Leo +XIII. is often called in Holland 'the Workmen's Pope.' Both +Anti-Revolutionists and Roman Catholics entertain entirely different +political ideals, but they agree upon this, that the modern Liberal State +is not really neutral in religions matters, but is 'Modern Protestant,' +and 'Modern' Protestantism spells atheism in their eyes; and both regard a +weak and fragile Christian as a better citizen than the best atheist or +agnostic. For this reason they are combined in hostility to the existing +System of elementary education, which they suspect of an atheistic +tendency. These two questions, religion and the schools, virtually exhaust +the vital points of agreement between the Anti-Revolutionists and the +Roman Catholics, though in an emergency they might possibly unite on +social legislation or some mild form of Protection. The latter would, +however, have to be very mild indeed, for Dr. Kuyper is a Free Trader, and +the 'Little people' like cheap bread just as well as other folk. For +Holland it might be a matter of great importance if progressive social +legislation became Kuyper's chief work. + +There is no doubt a great drawback in this mixing up by ail parties of +politics and religion. Kuyper, the Calvinist; Schaepman, the Catholic; +Drucker, Treub, and Molengraaf, the Liberal Democrats; Goeman Borgesius, +the man of the 'Liberal Union;' and Troelstra, the Socialist, all have +many common ideas on social questions, although they may differ in +principles and seek different aims. Each of them, however, has +Conservative opponents in his own party, and there is just a possibility +that the next few years may bring about not only a healthy measure of +social development, but also a much-desired readjustment of parties, on +non-theological, undogmatical lines. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +The Administration of Justice + + + +There are two very marked differences between the administration of +justice in Holland and in England. The first is that what are called +'petty offences' are not tried and disposed of summarily in the former +country. There the offender in such cases is subjected to a process known +as 'verbalization'--that is, his name, address, age, and all particulars +of the offence are noted by the police; and he is thereupon informed that +he will be called upon to give an account of himself later. A week or two +may pass before the offender receives verbal or printed notice requiring +his presence before the Court of the Cantonal Judge, which answers +somewhat to the English Police Court. This delay in the administration of +justice is regarded as a great defect even in Holland, and one which is +more and more being recognized. The establishment of the Police Court as +known and conducted in England is felt, therefore, to be a great +_desideratum_, and it is by no means unlikely that it may be introduced +before long, since the Dutch have always shown themselves ready to adopt +any modification of their own institutions which the experience of other +countries may prove to be clearly desirable. + +The second difference is that trial by jury as Englishmen understand it +does not exist in the Netherlands. But here the Dutch are not likely to +abandon their own tradition. The jury in Holland is composed of +experienced and qualified judges, who are not apt to modify their opinions +as to the guilt or innocence of accused persons owing to the tears of the +latter or the passionate appeals of their advocates. Rightly or wrongly, +the most eminent lawyers in Holland ascribe the often-recurring cases of +miscarriage of justice in some countries which have adopted the jury +system to this system itself, and it is very improbable, therefore, that +in this respect the Dutch will copy any of their neighbours. + +The organization of justice in Holland originated in the Code Napoleon, +which was introduced shortly after the country's annexation to the French +Empire. In the judicial system in vogue to-day, which is the result of +modifications introduced at various times during last century, and +particularly by a law of the year 1895, the administration of justice is +vested in the High Court (_Hooge Raad_), the Provincial Courts of Justice +(_Gerechtskoven_), the Arrondissements (_Rechtbanken_), and the Cantonal +Courts (_Kantongerechten_). + +The High Court consists of a President, a Vice-President, from twelve to +fourteen Councillors, a Procurator-General, three Advocates-General (who +form, with the Procurator-General, the 'Public Ministry' or Office of +Public Prosecution), also a Greffier, or Clerk of Court, and two deputy +Greffiers. Most of the appointments are made by the Sovereign, and are +for life. The High Court is situated at The Hague, and its principal duty +is to control the administration of justice by the lower Courts, a +process known as 'cassation.' If, for example, one of the lower Courts +has pronounced a sentence from which there is no appeal in that Court, +and one of the contending parties is of opinion that the sentence is +excessive, that party may require the High Court to cancel or annul +(_casseer_) the verdict. When an appeal for cassation or annulment is +thus made, the High Court has not to go into the question of the guilt or +innocence of the contending parties, but merely into the question whether +the lower Court has judged rightly or whether it was competent to judge +the case at all. Such 'cassations' occur almost daily, not because the +High Court has a reputation for reversing the verdicts given below, but +because the process offers at least a good chance of getting a sentence +reduced. The Public Prosecution, however, has power to set in motion the +process of cassation without being called upon so to do if the interests +of justice should in its opinion require it. To the jurisdiction of the +High Court belong also piracy cases, the apportionment of prizes made in +war, and the determination of accusations against State officials of +abuse of power. + +Of Provincial Courts there are five, each composed of officials similar in +name, though not in rank, to those of the High Court, and they, too, are +for the most part appointed by the Crown, though not all for life. These +Provincial Courts pronounce judgment in the second instance--that is, when +the decision of a lower Court has been appealed against. This is, in fact, +their principal function, though they also pronounce judgment in the first +instance in cases of difference between the Cantonal Courts or +Arrondissement Courts. The latter are so named from the divisions into +which the country was split up for administrative purposes during the +Napoleonic _regime_, for the existing arrondissement boundaries are +virtually the same as those of ninety years ago. + +There are twenty-three Arrondissement Courts, thirteen of the first-class +and ten of the second class. Their principal business is to pronounce +judgment in the first instance, even in criminal cases, but they also +decide in the final instance in cases of dispute between the Cantonal +Courts, which are under their jurisdiction. They likewise adjudicate upon +claims for compensation up to a certain amount, upon disputes regarding +the boundaries of land and property, and upon complaints relating to +water-supply, drainage, and the like, while cases of mendicancy, vagrancy, +and evasion of taxes are decided by these Courts summarily. + +The Cantonal Courts are, as already stated, the nearest equivalent in +Holland to the English Police Courts. Their members, however, are legally +trained and salaried men, though attached to each Court are several +unsalaried deputies. The Judges of these Courts are appointed for life by +the Crown, and the minor officiais for a term of years. All the petty +cases which in England come before the Police Court are in Holland +adjudicated upon by the Cantonal Courts. Poaching, personal violence, +cruelty to animals, damage done to dwellings, trees, or crops, are all +cases for these Courts, and so long as the fines imposed do not exceed +two guineas, their judgment is final, but in other cases the right of +appeal exists. + +Mention has just been made of the fact that even from the lowest Court of +Law in Holland the amateur judge is rigidly excluded. No one who has not +acquired the diploma of Doctor of Laws from one of the Dutch Universities +is allowed to assume any responsible duty associated with the +administration of justice. The same severe requirement is imposed upon the +legal profession in general. The possession of the diploma of Doctor of +Laws and Letters alone entitles a man to practise as advocate. Amongst +themselves the members of the legal profession also exercise a sort of +mutual surveillance by means of their Councils of Supervision and +Discipline, whose duty it is to take care that nothing is done by an +advocate which is contrary to the law or to the honour of the faculty. +These Councils are chosen from amongst the lawyers themselves in all towns +where there are more than fourteen resident advocates, but in smaller +places their duties are discharged by the Provincial or Arrondissement +Courts. Should a lawyer be guilty of any serious misdemeanour he is +promptly expelled from the Community of Advocates, and he may be even +refused the right to plead in any of the public Courts. In passing, it is +an interesting feature of the Dutch judicial system that in every place +where there is a Court of Justice, higher or lower, there exists a +Consultation Bureau where people without means may obtain gratuitous +advice in legal matters. Unless a charge laid before this Consultation +Bureau appears on the face of it to be unsustainable, the Bureau appoints +one of its members to act as legal adviser and counsellor to the applicant +free of cost. In criminal cases the President of the Court concerned +appoints a legal adviser for the accused, though the latter may choose +another advocate if he pleases. + +It will be interesting to enter one of these Dutch Courts of Law, and a +Cantonal Court may perhaps best serve as an example, since that resembles +most closely the English _forum_ of the people--the Police Court. Let us +assume that we are privileged persons, though engaged in serious legal +business. We are bidden to make an appearance at a quarter to eleven +o'clock in the morning, and, presenting ourselves at that hour, we take +our seats on comfortable chairs, ranged round a long square table in the +large public waiting-room. As many other people are coming in, and the +room threatens soon to be crowded, a considerate attendant, knowing that +we are in favour with the grave and reverend seigniors who preside over +the Court, shows us into another and smaller room, where one of the deputy +Clerks (Greffier) is seated working at his books. One by one other persons +come in, pay small sums of money, of which the deputy Clerk evidently +keeps an exact account, together with the names and addresses of the +payers, the amounts yet remaining due--everything, in fact, relating to +each person's case. We note that some of the payers inquire how much they +yet owe, and the sum being told them, they forthwith take their departure. +We learn that these are all people who were fined some time ago for petty +offences, and who are, or pretend to be, unable to pay the full amount at +once. Hence they are allowed to pay by instalments, and it is the duty of +the Clerk to keep an accurate account of their contributions. + +Our own turn having come round, we are now ushered into the Court, where +we see His Worship the Judge seated at the head--which happens to be the +middle--of a long table, covered by the inevitable green cloth. Papers, +ink-stands, and pens are before him; at his left hand sits the Clerk, and +next to him the first deputy Clerk. We observe, too, how carefully the +proprieties are observed in the matter of dress. All the judicial +functionaries present wear a costume consisting of a black toga reaching +to the heels, with a white 'bef,' or collar-band, hanging in front +halfway down to the waist, and also a black _barrette_, or square cap, as +in France. + +Five persons are seated in the chairs next to ours and opposite to the +Judge. They have just testified that the last will of their parent has +been duly carried out, and that each of them has received his share, being +in this case '3887 guilders 71/2 cents'. (don't forget the half-cent, for +attention to minutiae is one of those characteristics of the Dutch which +strikes us at every turn). Presently the Judge asks the eldest of the +party whether his name is not 'So-and-so.' The answer being in the +affirmative, His Worship nods to the Clerk, who begins to read out in +clear and measured tones-- + +'I, So-and-so (description and address follow), hereby declare and testify +to have received as my share in the heritage of my parent the sum legally +apportioned to me, being 3887 guilders 71/2 cents.' + +Then the Judge asks: 'Are you prepared to swear that this is true, and +that as far as you know nothing is kept behind so that justice is not +fully carried out?' This is the legal formula in use upon such an +occasion, and it produces the expected reply. 'Very well, then,' proceeds +the Judge, 'repeat after me, "So truly help me God Almighty!"' The +familiar words of the Dutch oath are accompanied by the uplifting of the +right hand and the pointing to heaven of the first two fingers. Then +follow the other four members of the family in order of age. All of them +swear in the usual words, except the second daughter, who demurs, on which +the judicial eyebrows are raised in surprise. It appears that the maiden +suffers from religious scruples, being firmly of opinion that swearing an +oath is forbidden by Holy Scripture. The Judge listens respectfully, and +simply answers, 'Then repeat after me, "I hereby solemnly declare that the +words read out to me just now are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing +but the truth."' The conscientious witness having no objection to a +simple affirmation, the words are promptly repeated, the business is +completed, and the party are all allowed to withdraw. + +Now our own turn has come. One of our party, we will assume, has been +appointed by the Cantonal Judge to be guardian over a minor son of another +of our number. All declare who, what, and whence they are, and that the +guardian has received his appointment with their common consent, while the +guardian himself makes formal declaration of accepting the duty. He is +thereupon sworn by the Judge in the occupation of his office, promising +'to act in all things as a true and faithful guardian should act, so truly +help me God Almighty.' These several incidents are fairly typical of the +sort of business which occupies the attention of these minor Courts. As we +leave the building, however, we learn another piece of interesting +information in the course of conversation with the deputy Clerk whose +acquaintance we first made. It is that the principle of 'punishment by +instalments' is applied in the case of the poorer classes, not merely in +the matter of fines, but also of imprisonment, save in criminal cases. +Many a poor man, for instance, who shortly after being sentenced to, say, +a week's or a fortnight's imprisonment has happened to find employment +would be ruined if compelled to go to prison at once. He is therefore +allowed, as in Russia, to select his own time for surrendering himself to +the prison authorities, and if, as often happens in poaching cases, two +different offences have brought upon him two terms of imprisonment, he is +allowed to come before the Judge, with the request that he may combine +these two terms, beginning his incarceration at a fixed date. The Court to +whose clemency he thus appeals generally grants the request, and the man +is thus enabled to work for his livelihood whilst the demand for labour +is general, and to go to prison when he happens to be out of work, and +would only be one mouth more to feed at home, where his wife and children +already find difficulty enough in making both ends meet. When imprisonment +is thus post-poned the offender receives from the Court a document, on the +presentation of which at the prison door the Master of the prison will +admit him as a temporary occupant of one of the cells. Old gaol-birds, +however, are not treated so tenderly, but the Judges soon learn by +experience when and how to apply this merciful arrangement, and when to +refuse it altogether. + +In general the statistics of crime give Holland a decidedly favourable +reputation. Serious misdemeanours are comparatively rare. Crimes like +burglary, theft, and the like, are certainly committed often enough, but +there is no evidence to show that they are on the increase, while life and +property are at least as secure in the large Dutch towns as anywhere else +in Europe. The Hague, though a city of 220,000 inhabitants, is +sufficiently protected by the comparatively small number of 220 policemen. +Rotterdam and Amsterdam both have a larger number of policemen per +thousand inhabitants than The Hague, but this is natural, owing to the +more heterogeneous character of the population of these great commercial +centres. It is a notable fact that in every town in Holland the +Burgomaster or Mayor is the supreme head of the police, and that the Chief +Commissary of Police must not merely co-operate with him, but is in the +last resort subject to his direct command. + +In spite of the fact that Courts of summary jurisdiction of the English +type do not exist in Holland, the police authority possesses a +considerable amount of power. Mention has been made of the process of +'verbalization' as applied to common misdemeanours. In the case of +drunkenness or fighting, however, the offenders are at once taken before +the Commissary of Police, who promptly deals with them. Offences against +which the police are entirely powerless are those of adulteration of food, +household quarrels so long as they remain within certain bounds, and an +offence of quite modern origin known as 'bottle-drawing' (_Anglice_, +'long-firm frauds'). This last is an ingenious species of fraud which has +become very common in Holland of late years. A person orders a quantity of +goods from merchants of various towns on the pretence of opening accounts, +which he promises will quickly assume large dimensions. Consignment after +consignment of wares is sent, but never paid for, and when at last the too +trustful merchant discovers that he has been playing into the hands of a +swindler he gets no redress, for the artful schemer has disappeared, +taking with him the proceeds of the goods received. For a time this sort +of fraud was quite popular, but then the eyes of the business community +were opened, and the strong hand of the law fell upon several offenders +with crushing weight, after which 'bottle-drawing' lost in attractiveness. +On the whole, the police in Holland are commendably energetic as well as +dutiful, and the relationship between the police authority and the public +is generally a friendly and trustful one. + +It may be noted that the Dutch law strongly discourages divorce. In +general the present generation is apt to regard separation and divorce +with greater favour than its fathers did, but though this feeling may to +some extent influence the decisions of Dutch Judges in divorce +proceedings, the law itself, strictly interpreted, offers little hope to +those who would weaken the marriage tie. When married people disagree to +such an extent that a rupture between them is imminent, and a demand for +divorce is made, proof is required that the demand comes only from one +side, for divorce by common consent is against the law except in cases of +adultery. In every other case the Judge of the Cantonal Court must do his +utmost to effect a reconciliation. Should, however, a demand for divorce +be repeated, this same Judge, or a Judge of a Superior Court, must again +endeavour to bring the parties together, and only in the event of failure +is judicial separation _a mensa et thoro_ pronounced, and this separation +must exist for a number of years--as a rule seven--before actual divorce +can take place. Nevertheless, both separation and divorce are far more +frequent nowadays than ten or twenty years ago, owing largely to the +judicial disposition to interpret the law more in accordance with what are +known as 'modern ideas.' + +Holland is one of the few countries which no longer tolerate capital +punishment. It was abolished thirty years ago, and, in spite of the +strenuous efforts of the reactionary party, it is not likely to be +re-established. Quite recently, Mr. C. Loosjes wrote a pamphlet in +advocacy of the reenactment of capital punishment, and his position at the +Ministry of Justice gave to this work considerable weight. His contention +was that since capital punishment was abolished, the crimes of murder, +attempted murder, poisoning, and parricide had increased, but Mr. Loosjes +failed to make sufficient allowance for the fact that during the period +covered by his statistics the population of the country had greatly +increased. The fact is that during the twenty years preceding abolition +considerably more crimes punishable by death occurred than during the +twenty years following that act of clemency, civilisation, and +enlightenment, while as compared with other countries Holland takes a very +favourable position indeed, standing, together with England, Belgium, and +Germany, at the head of the nations having the smallest number of crimes +of a kind usually punished by death. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +Religious Life and Thought + + + +The Dutch are a thoroughly religious people. Religious sentiments and +introspective inclinations were bound to develop and prosper in the Low +Lands, where vast plains of fertile land are only limited by the endless +sea below, the unfathomable blue of heaven above; where man feels himself +an atom, lost in the vastness of creation, yet safe, because he is placed +there by the will of a beneficent Maker. + +Introspective, personal, individualistic, self-centred are their painters +and their poets. These were greatly so when Holland's fleets ruled the +seas, and when Holland's influence and power were felt far beyond ils own +narrow frontiers; and they are still so in our days. + +This individualism accounts for the many sects found among the Dutch +Reformed. The Roman Catholic Church, the only episcopacy in Holland, +numbers only two sections: those--the majority--who admit the +infallibility of the Pope, and those--a small minority--who, although +recognizing the Pope as chief of the Church, do not agree with the +decisions of the Vatican Council of 1870, proclaiming this papal +infallibility. The Roman Catholic Church is a tolerably prospering +institution, thanks to the absolute freedom which it, like all the sister +Churches, enjoys in Holland, where, ever since the revolution of 1795, a +State Church has been an unknown thing. On the whole, however, its growth +is not keeping pace with the increase of the population. A former census +indicated that the Roman Catholics numbered two-fifths of the whole +population, but the latest puts them down at only one-third, and in the +Second Chamber of the States General there are only twenty-five Roman +Catholic members out of a total of a hundred representatives. Their +present organization dates from 1853, when the Liberals agreed to the +appointment by the Pope of one Archbishop in Utrecht, and four Bishops in +Haarlem, Bois-le-Duc, Breda, and Roermond. The bishoprics are divided in +decanates, and in 1858 the Pope completed the organization by instituting +chapters, each governed by one provost and eight canons. The Archbishops +and Bishops do not officially participate in political life in Holland, +although, as a matter of course, nobody can help noticing their influence +upon the electorate; the minor clergy as a rule are less discreet in this +matter than their chiefs, whereas the political leader of the Roman +Catholics in the Second Chamber is Dr. Herman Schaepman, a priest, a +professer at the Seminary of Rysenburg, a statesman, an orator, and a +poet, whose quintuple attainments are equally admired, although his +scientific importance is not generally considered to be quite as weighty +as the rest of his remarkable personality. + +Far more significant for Dutch religious life are the other two-thirds of +the population, Protestants to the back-bone. The former State Church, the +Netherlands Reformed Church, was left in a most awkward position when, in +1795, disestablishment was forced upon it. Up till 1848, when Jann Rudolf +Thorbecke saved Holland and the Royal House from another revolution, by +imposing a Liberal constitution upon the reluctant King William II, the +Netherlands Reformed Church had no sound, well-regulated status; but not +before 1870 was the last tie Connecting State and Church severed. The +State now no longer exercises spiritual or other supervision, but merely +pays a yearly allowance to the various clergymen, without vindicating or +claiming any rights in return. + +On the other hand, the State no longer pays or appoints University +professors to teach specific reformed theology; every Church of every +description looks after this on behalf of its own students, and whereas +the Roman Catholic clergy are educated at the Seminaries, the General +Synod, the supreme governing board of the Netherlands Reformed Church, +nominates two professors for each of the four Dutch Universities at +Leyden, Utrecht, Groningen, and Amsterdam. + +It is necessary to point here to a peculiarity in Dutch religious and +political life. At the time when Liberal politics were developing in +Holland, critical and historical research made itself conspicuous in the +teaching of leading Dutch ecclesiastics like Scholten and Kuenen. The +Reformation upset the Divine authority of the Pope; these modern critics +denied and destroyed the faith in the Divine authority of the Bible. They +were educated, and afterwards taught their lessons at the University of +Leyden, where the future Liberal statesmen of Holland were preparing for +their task; they had the same ideals, the same modes of thought. + +[Illustration: Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers +Worshipped Before Leaving for New England).] + +The ecclesiastics called themselves 'Moderns;' the politicians were +designated 'Liberals.' Both vindicated the supreme right of freedom in +everything: free criticism, free research, free thought, free speech. The +reign of pure intellectualism became supreme; every emotion, every +sentiment was dissected, measured by the measure of inexorable logic; and +rationalism, later doomed to bankruptcy, was in those days all-triumphant. + + +So it came about that the Liberals were 'Moderns' and the 'Moderns' +Liberals; and as the State was for a quarter of a century governed by +Liberals who involuntarily made the Church 'Modern,' populated by +Liberals, so it also came about that their religious opponents became +their political foes. + +These opponents were called 'Orthodox;' they felt this imposition of +liberty as the worst coercion one man could apply to another--the coercion +of the conscience. They did not care to see the Bible treated as a piece +of sheer human manufacture, however exalted; they felt it a burning shame +to have to pay taxes towards the maintenance of irreligious, or even +anti-religious, scientific chairs and colleges. They thought of their +stern forefathers, who had broken the power of the mighty Spanish Empire, +strengthened by God's Word and by that only. To them the Netherlands +Reformed Church and the Netherlands State lost their sound and only safe +basis by the assertion that there was something changeable, something +non-eternal in the Bible; that this Bible, revered as containing the Holy +Scriptures, might be replaced by any human System of thought to serve as +the foundation for the structure of the State. + +This blending of Modernism and Liberalism afforded to them absolute proof +that any abandonment of the ancient creed and the revered confession meant +ruin both to State and Church. So they followed the time-honoured practice +of the Dutch race; they separated, broke away from a species of liberty +which was not of their liking, and became 'Anti-Revolutionists' and +'Separatists' ('Afgescheidenen'); Calvin, with his staunch, severe +Protestantism, being their ideal as statesman and spiritual leader. + +The Dutch language has two words for one thing: 'Hervorming' and +'Reformatie.' But there is a vast difference between the Netherlands +'Hervormde' and the Netherlands 'Gereformeerde' Churches. The former is +the late State Church, the latter is the Church of the 'Afgescheidenen,' +who, before joining the Netherlands Gereformeerde, called themselves +'Christelyk Gereformeerde.' These two joined in 1892, and are now known as +the 'Gereformeerde Kerken' (the Reformed Churches). + +Their leader is Professer Abraham Kuyper, the present President Minister +of the Netherlands. He, like Dr. Schaepman, is a born orator, a prolific +author, a scientific ecclesiastic, a strong democratic leader of men, an +admirable organizer, and perhaps the most brilliant journalist in Holland; +but beyond this, he is a staunch Protestant of the strictest Calvinistic +type, to whom the Roman Catholic Church is a blasphemous and idolatrous +institution. In 1879 he created the 'Society for Higher Education on a +Reformed Basis,' and in 1880 his 'Free University' was consecrated in the +'Nieuwe Kerk' (the New Church) at Amsterdam, Dr. Kuyper ever since the +opening acting as one of the professors. His flock is now strong in +numbers, but his and their faith is stronger and has worked miracles, +building churches and schools, maintaining preachers and teachers, finding +money for everything, and finally, for the second time, gaining a +political victory, with the help of such strange auxiliaries as the Roman +Catholics. What unites them is the conviction they have in common that a +State and a Government not led themselves by religion must lead a nation +to perdition. To them Liberal Governments, although theoretically free +from clerical influence, are actually led and unduly influenced by the +'Modern' Protestants of Holland. These 'Modern' Protestants reject the +dogma of the Holy Trinity and various other dogmas which the Roman +Catholics and the Orthodox Protestants consider the essence of the +Christian creed; they are, therefore, in the opinion of the latter, mere +atheists, and consequently unfit to rule the destinies of a nation. + +[Illustration: Utrecht Cathedral.] + +These 'Modern' Protestants came to the fore during the last fifty years. +The University of Groningen taught a humanism, which created a reaction +towards the ancient confessors of the creed, the 'reveal,' or awakening. +Subsequently modern cosmosophy tried to adjust its opinions to modern +science and the results of modern research in every branch of human +knowledge. This was a great blow to the ancestral faith and the venerable +Confession. In those days Coenraad Busken Huet published his 'Letters on +the Bible,' popularizing the scientific criticisms of the Sacred Book. +Gradually Leyden's University took the lead, Johannes Henricus Scholten, +Abraham Kuenen, and the Utrecht philosopher Cornelis Willem Opzoomer +assisting the new movement by their profound knowledge, their irresistible +logic, their brilliant style, and their high enthusiasm. In those years +Holland went through ail the throes accompanying the appearance of new +life; it was a time of intellectual stress and strain, a time of +controversial storm in which unrelenting criticism and critical research +carried away everything that could not exist in the light of exact science +and exacter thinking. + +Jacobus Izaak Doedes, Johannes Jacobus van Oosterzee, Chantepic de la +Saussaye, the successors of Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Jan Rudolf +Thorbecke's greatest opponent, and Isaaec Da Costa, Willem Bilderdyk's +famous pupil, defended the ancient creed, but the General Synod was +'Modern' and the 'Orthodox' had a difficult time. + +In numbers of places the 'dominees,' or preachers, were Orthodox, and in +order to provide their own followers with spiritual fare, the 'Moderns' +established in 1870 the 'Nederlandsche Protestantenbond,' or Netherlands +Protestant League. This League sees that all over the country 'Modern' +sermons are preached, 'Modern' Sunday Schools instituted, meetings of +Protestants arranged, and everything is done that can support or promote +religious life. + +Besides these two large bodies of Protestants, the Orthodox and the +Moderns, Holland has a good many Lutherans, Baptists, or Mennonites, and +Remonstrants. Of the Lutherans the most numerous are the Evangelical +Lutherans, who faithfully maintain the Augsburg Confession, while the +Moderns, known as Reinstated Lutherans, abandoned that organ of doctrine. +There is not, however, much animosity between the two sects at the present +time, neither making a strong point of dogma, but both giving a prominent +place to the demands of Christian practice. + +The Mennonites--so called after the Dutch reformer Menno Simons +(1496-1561)--were in olden times the most persecuted Protestants of all. +Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists were equally hard upon them, +and many of them lost their lives on account of their convictions. They +have no test, no church, no rite, no clergy. They have fraternities, and +in these the minister is the 'voorganger' (guide or leader), though his +education, social position, and general duties are the same as those of +all other Protestant ministers. In Amsterdam they have their own Seminary, +and the names of Professors Samuel Muller, Sytske Hoekstra Bzn, Jacob +Gysbert de Hoop Scheffer, and Jan van Gilse are honoured in the country +and outside the 'General Baptist Society,' as their central body is +called. Their teaching and preaching appeal not only to the religions, but +very strongly to the ethical and moral tendencies of humanity. + +The Remonstrants (formerly Arminians) came upon the scene towards the end +of the sixteenth century. Dirk Vorlkertsz Coornhert had written a very +able refutation of the dogma of predestination. The Town Council of +Amsterdam ordered Jacob Arminius to Write a book against Coornhert's work. +But behold! when Arminius settled down to the task, and read Coornhert's +argument carefully, he came to the conclusion that the other was right, +and from an opponent he turned into a powerful ally. This happy lack of +bias has ever been the particular feature of Arminian doctrine, and, like +the Mennonites, the Remonstrants hold that the value of religion is +determined by its beneficial influence on ethics. Considering the ethical +or social fermentation which Holland, like every other country, has +witnessed during the last decades, it is not surprising to find a great +many 'Modern' members of the Netherlands 'Hervormde Kerk' joining the +Remonstrant fraternity, which affords absolute liberty as regards dogma +and confession, and at the same time satisfies their altruistic +inclinations. + +It is one of the commonest contentions of the age that ethics and religion +can exist in one being independently of each other. One very advanced sect +of modern Dutch Protestants--not yet, however, numbering a great many +adherents--does not go quite to this extreme, but in the 'Vrye Gemeente,' +or 'Free Community,' they represent religion as a thing complete in +itself, a thing purely pertaining to the individual, personal spiritual +life. This 'Free Community' was established in 1878 by two Amsterdam +ministers, Pieter Hermannus Hugenholtz and Frederik Willem Nicolaas +Hugenholtz. They neither observe Ascension Day nor Whitsuntide; they +abolished Baptism and the Eucharist; and, however charitable the members +may be in their private capacities, the Free Community, as such, does not +practise poor-relief or charity in any form. + +In this connexion it is interesting to add a few words about Dutch Free +Masonry. The Dutch Free Masons of the present day are not so much +moralists as ethicists. The well-being of the commonwealth based upon the +well-being of every member--spiritually, intellectually, and +materially--is their threefold aim. They feel and express profound +admiration for every form of religious life, utterly indifferent as to the +existence or non-existence of any dogma accompanying it, since they freely +realize how strong a motive religion is to ethics; they admit Roman +Catholics, Orthodox or Modern Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, Mohammedans, +Atheists and Agnostics into their fraternity, no confessional test +whatever being put to any one; they only require faithful co-operation +towards the general betterment of human society as a whole. + +The Hebrew Church has also enjoyed perfect freedom ever since the +constitution of 1848 made the right of congregation absolute and +incontestable. But after being fettered during so many centuries, it took +even this energetic and tenacious race some twenty years to shake itself +free from the lingering influences of long-protracted restraint. It was +only in 1870 that the Netherlands Israelitic Congregation was established; +the Portuguese Jews in Holland have a separate governing body. Modern and +ancient views clash here, as everywhere else, but the consciousness of +their illustrious history, not sullied, but adorned with greater +brilliancy by centuries of persecution, becomes gradually more powerful in +the mind of the Dutch Jew, and invigorates his natural and national +tendency towards the ancient rites and doctrines of his classic creed. + + + + +Chapter XX + +The Army and Navy + + + +Although the Dutch maintained their independence in the sixteenth century +against the most formidable regular army in Europe, and also did their +fair share of fighting in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they +have long ceased to aspire to the rank of a military Power. The separation +from Belgium in 1830-31 put an end to the Orange policy of creating a +powerful Netherland State from Lorraine to the North Sea which could hold +its own with either France or Prussia, and since that period Holland has +gradually sunk, and seemingly without discontent, into the position of a +third-rate Power. This has taken place without any apparent loss of the +old love of independence, but it has necessarily been accompanied by a +diminution not only of the military spirit, but of military efficiency and +readiness. The spectacle of immense armies of millions of men in the +neighbouring States seems to have produced a sense of helplessness among +the people of the Netherlands, and to have led them to believe that +resistance, were it needful, would be futile. The inglorious campaign of +1794, when Pichegru occupied Holland almost without a blow, serves as a +sort of object-lesson to demonstrate the hopelessness of any attempt at +resistance, instead of the creditable campaign of 1793; when the Dutch +expelled Dumouriez from their country. Curiously enough, the Transvaal War +has revived national hope and confidence by showing what a well-armed +people without military training can do when standing on the defensive. +Time is necessary to prove whether this new sentiment will remove the +fatalistic feeling of helplessness that has been creeping over Dutch +public men, and brace them to efforts worthy of their ancestry. + +The sense of impotency has not been confined to the land forces alone. In +that matter it was felt that a nation of less than five millions could +not compete with those that numbered forty and fifty millions. But the +same sentiment exists also with regard to maritime power, where the +competition is not of men, but of money. The immense navies of modern +days, and the enormous cost of their maintenance and renovation, seem to +exclude small States from the rank of naval Powers. Holland, with the +finest material for manning a navy of any Continental State, can be no +exception to the general rule. Her little navy is a model of efficiency, +her small cruisers of 5000 tons are not surpassed by any of the same +size, and the _morale_ of her officers, one may not doubt, is worthy of +the service that produced not only the Ruyters and Tromps of old days, +but Suffren, our most able opponent during the long Napoleonic struggle. +None the less, the Dutch navy remains a small navy quite overshadowed by +the immense organizations of the present age, and without any possible +chance of competing with them. + +This self-evident fact exercises a depressing influence on Dutch opinion, +which has latterly shown a marked desire to ally the country with some +other. An alliance with Belgium, that of the North and South +Netherlanders, the old Union of the Provinces broken in 1583 and +imperfectly restored from 1815 to 1830, would be hailed with delight. The +difficulty of attaining this consolidation of Netherland opinion and +resources, on account of pronounced religious differences, has resulted in +the formation of a considerable body of opinion favourable to an alliance +with Germany. For the moment, events in South Africa have placed the old +English party in a hopeless minority. + +Although the Dutch possess in probably an unabated degree all the sturdy +characteristics that distinguished them of old, it seems as if prosperity +had somewhat blunted the edge of patriotism, at least to the extent of +rendering them unwilling to submit to the hardships of the conscription, +when fully applied to the whole people. As the consequence the Dutch do +not come under the head of an armed nation, and the war effective of their +army is less than 70,000 men. + +The regulations applying to the army are based on the law of 1861, which +was modified in one important particular by an Act of 1898. The army was +to be raised partly by conscription and partly by voluntary enlistment. +The annual contingent by conscription was fixed at 11,000 men. Every man +became liable to conscription at the age of nineteen, but as the right of +purchasing exemption continued in force until the Act of 1898 referred to, +all well-to-do persons so minded escaped from the obligation of military +service. At the same time its conditions were made as light as possible. +Nominally the conscripts had to serve for five years, but in reality they +remained one year with the colours, and afterwards were called out for +only six weeks' training during each of the four subsequent years. The +regular army thus obtained mustered on a peace footing 26,000 men and 2000 +officers, and on a war footing 68,000 officers and men and 108 guns, +excluding fortress artillery. Considering the interests entrusted to its +charge, the Dutch army must be pronounced the weakest of any State +possessing colonies--a position of no inconsiderable importance from the +historical and political point of view. + +It will be said, no doubt, that Holland possesses other land forces +besides her regular army, and this is true, but they are by the admission +of the Dutch themselves ill organized and not up to the level of their +duties. There is the Schutterij, or National Volunteer force--perhaps +Militia would be a more correct term, because the law creating it is based +on compulsion. The law organizing the Schutterij was passed in April, +1827, by which ail males were required to serve in it between the ages of +twenty-five and thirty, and from thirty to thirty-five in the Schutterij +reserve. An active division is formed out of unmarried men and widowers +without children. This division would be mobilized immediately on the +outbreak of war, and would take its place alongside the regular army. It +probably numbers five thousand men out of the total of 45,000 active +Schutterij. The reserve Schutterij does not exceed 40,000, but behind ail +these is what is termed indifferently the Landsturm, or the _levee en +masse_. There is only one defect in this arrangement, which is that by far +the larger portion of the population has never had any military training +except that given to the Schutterij, which is practically none at all. A +_levee en masse_ in Holland would have precisely the value, and no more, +that it would have in any other non-military State which either did not +possess a regular army of adequate efficiency and strength, or which had +not passed its population through the ranks of a conscript army. + +The Dutch Schutterij is ostensibly based on the model of the Swiss Rifle +Clubs, and the obligatory part of its service relates to rifle-practice at +the targets, but there the similarity ends. There is no room to question +the efficiency of the Swiss marksmen, and the tests applied are very +severe. But in Holland the practice is very different. The Schutterij +meetings are made the excuse for jollity, eating and drinking. They are +rather picnics than assemblies for the serious purpose of qualifying as +national defenders. Even in marksmanship the ranges are so short, and the +efficiency expected so meagre, that the military value of this civic force +is exceedingly dubious. It could only be compared with that of the Garde +Civique of Belgium, and with neither the Swiss Rifle Corps nor our own +Volunteers. + +Curiously enough, there is, however, an offshoot of the Schutterij based +also on the old organization of an ancient guild called the +"Sharpshooters." Its members are supposed to be good shots, or at least to +take pains to become so, and they practise at something approaching long +ranges. But it is a very limited and somewhat exclusive organization based +on a considerable subscription. It is the society or club of well-to-do +persons with a bent towards rifle-practice. An application to the +Schutterij of the obligations forming part of the voluntary and +self-imposed conditions accepted by the Sharpshooters would, no doubt, add +much to its efficiency, and might in time give Holland a serviceable +auxiliary corps of riflemen. + +Besides the home army, Holland possesses a very considerable colonial army +which is commonly known as the Indian contingent. This force garrisons +Java, Sumatra, and the other colonies in the East. The army of the East +Indies numbers 13,000 Europeans and 17,000 natives, principally Malays of +Java. Besides this regular garrison a Schutterij force is maintained in +Java. It consists of 4000 Europeans and 6000 natives. The Europeans are +the planters and the members of the civil service. The natives are the +retainers of some of the native princes, and the overseers and more +responsible men employed on the European plantations. The total garrison +of the Dutch East Indies is consequently a very considerable one, viewed +by the light of its duties, but allowance has to be made for the +interminable war in Atchin, which keeps several thousand men permanently +engaged, and never seems nearer an ending. + +The Dutch authorities find great difficulty in recruiting their army for +the East Indies, and with the growth of prosperity this difficulty +increases. Indeed, the garrison could not be maintained at its present +high strength but for the numerous volunteers who come forward for this +well-paid service from Germany and Belgium. At one time these outside +recruits became so numerous owing to the tempting offers made to them by +the Dutch authorities that the two Governments interested presented formal +protests against their proceedings. Germany has always been very sore on +the subject of losing any of her soldiers, and Belgium has much need of +all the men likely to serve abroad in the Congo State. There are still +foreigners of German and Belgian race in the Dutch Indian army, but any +design of turning it into a Foreign Legion on the same model as that of +the force which has served France so well in Algeria and her colonies has +fallen through. + +The only active service or practical experience of war which the Dutch +army has had since the end of the struggle with Belgium has been in the +East Indies. The Lombock expedition of 1894 is still remembered for its +losses and disasters, but on that occasion the Dutch displayed a fine +spirit of fortitude under a reverse, and ended the campaign by bringing +the hostile Sultan to reason. The long struggle with the Atchinese has +been marked by heroism on both sides, and is evidence that the Dutch have +not lost their old tenacity. At the same time the Government finds +considerable difficulty in obtaining the requisite number of voluntary +exiles to preserve its possessions in the Eastern Archipelago, and it may +find itself obliged to reduce the effective strength of its garrison. + +Moreover, the hygienic conditions are still extremely unfavourable, and +the rate of mortality among Europeans in Java and the Celebes is +particularly high. It may be no longer true, as was said with perhaps +some exaggeration in the time of Marshal Daendels at the beginning of +last century, that the European Dutch garrisons die out every three +years, but the death-rate is certainly high, and a considerable part of +the garrison returns invalided by fever a very few months after its +arrival in the East. At present the Dutch Indies are absolutely safe +because England does not covet them, and would never dream of molesting +the Dutch in them provided she herself remains unmolested. But should +international competitions break out in that quarter of the world Holland +might experience some difficulty in maintaining her garrison at an +adequate strength for the proper discharge of her international duties, +but this contingency is not likely to present itself for another twenty +or thirty years. + +The troops of the regular Dutch army will compare favourably with any of +their neighbours. They are not as stiff on parade as the Germans, and they +are more solid than the French. Their physique is good, although, owing to +the practice of purchasing a substitute, which has too lately ceased to +allow of the change to come into full effect, the infantry contains an +abnormal number of short men, which gives a misleading idea of the average +height of the race. The minimum height of the infantry soldier is 5 ft. +11/2 ins., which is very low for a people whose general stature is quite +on a level with our own. There is certainly one point in which the Dutch +soldiers strike the observer as being different from their neighbours. +They seem light-hearted and jovial, not at all oppressed by the severe +claims of discipline, and at the same time quite free from the slouch that +gives the Belgian linesman a non-military appearance. + +The strength of the Dutch army lies undoubtedly in its corps of officers, +a body of specially qualified men fitted to discharge the duties that +devolve on the leaders of any army. The majority of these pass through the +Royal Military Academy, an institution from which we might borrow some +features with advantage. Candidates are admitted between the ages of +fifteen and eighteen, and undergo a course of four years before they are +eligible for a commission. As the charges at the Academy are limited to +_L22 10s_. a year, the expense of becoming an officer forms no prohibitive +barrier, and in a course of training spread over four years the cadet can +be turned into a fully qualified officer before he is entrusted with the +discharge of practical duties. Moreover, his training does not stop with +his leaving the Academy. It is supposed to be necessary to complete it by +a further course in camps of instruction, and subsequently by what are +called State missions in the temporary service of other armies. This +practice is fairly general on the Continent, although it is never resorted +to by the British, who are less acquainted with the organization of +Continental armies than is the case with even third or fourth-rate States. + +The headquarters of the Dutch Engineers are at Utrecht, of the Artillery +at Zwolle, of the Infantry at The Hague, and of the Cavalry at Breda. +Utrecht is the most important of these military stations, because the +Engineers are the most important branch of the army, and also because it +is the centre of the canal and dyke System of Holland. The school or +college of the State Civil Engineers, to whom is entrusted the care of the +dykes, is at Utrecht. They are known as Waterstaat, and Utrecht may be +held to supplement and complete the machinery existing at the capital, +Amsterdam, for flooding the country. In theory and on paper, the defence +of Holland is based on the assumption that in the event of invasion the +country surrounding Amsterdam to as far as Utrecht on one side and Leyden +on the other would be flooded. There are many who doubt whether the +resolution to sanction the enormous attendant damage would be displayed. +It is said that the national spirit does not beat so high as when the +youthful William resorted to that measure in 1672 to baffle the French +monarch, and then prepared his fleet, in the event of its failure, to +convey the relics of Dutch greatness and the fortunes of Orange to a new +home and country beyond the seas. On that occasion the waters did their +work thoroughly well. But it is said that they might not accomplish what +was expected of them on the next occasion, while the damage inflicted +would remain. Nothing can solve this question save the practical test, but +there is no reason to believe that at heart the Dutch race of to-day is +less patriotic or resolute than formerly. + +At the same time a very important change has to be noted in the views of +Dutch strategists. Formerly the whole system of national defence centred +in Amsterdam, and it must be added that the dykes have been mainly +constructed with the idea of flooding the country round it. This was the +old plan, sanctioned by antiquity and custom, of defending the capital at +all costs, and making it the final refuge of the race. But latterly the +opinion has been spreading among military men that Rotterdam would make a +far better place of final stand than Amsterdam, because, the forts of the +Texel once forced, the capital might be menaced by a naval attack from the +Zuyder Zee or by the Northern Canal. In old days Amsterdam was safe from +any naval descent, but the introduction of steam has laid it open to the +attack at least of torpedo flotillas. The entrance to the Meuse, it is +represented, could be made impregnable with little difficulty, and the +approaches to Rotterdam from the land side are far more dependent on the +proper restraining of the waters within their artificial or natural +channels than those to Amsterdam. There is another argument in support of +Rotterdam. It would be easier for Holland's allies to send aid there than +to Amsterdam, while a strong position at Rotterdam would senously menace +any hostile army at Utrecht, and contribute materially to the defence of +Amsterdam as well. But the Dutch are a slow people to move. Amsterdam is +supposed to be ready to stand a siege at any time, whereas Rotterdam's +defences are mainly on paper. The garrison of Rotterdam is only a few +hundred men, and to convert it into a fortified position would, no doubt, +entail the outlay of a good many million florins. Still, the conviction is +spreading that Rotterdam has supplanted Amsterdam as the real centre of +Dutch prosperity and national life. + +The Schutterij is, singularly enough, not popular. The reason for this is +not very clear, as the duties are quite nominal, and in no material +clegree interfere with civil employment. The distaste to any form of +military service is tolerably general, and the advanced Radical party has +adopted as one of its cries, "Nobody wishes to be a soldier." Probability +points, however, not to the abolition of the Schutterij, but to its being +made more efficient, and consequently the conditions of service in it must +become more rigorous. There is one portion of the duties of the Schutterij +which is far from unpopular with the men of the force. When a householder +neglects to pay his taxes one or more militiamen are quartered on him, and +he is obliged to supply his guests not merely with good food and lodging, +but also with abundant supplies of tobacco and gin. Apart from such +incidents, which one may not doubt from the nature of the penalty are +exceedingly rare, the Schutterij seems to have rather a dull and +monotonous time of it. + +There is one fact about the Dutch army that deserves mention. It is +extremely well behaved, and the men give their officers very little +trouble. The discipline is lighter than in most armies. There is an +unusually kindly feeling between officers and men for a Continental force, +and at the same time the public and the military are on excellent terms +with each other. This is, no doubt, due to the very short period served +with the colours, and to the fact that the last four years, with the +exception of six weeks annually in a camp or fortress, are passed in civil +life at home. + +The Dutch navy, although small in comparison with its past achievements +and with its present competitors, is admitted to be well organized, +efficient in its condition, and manned by a fine _personnel_. It is +generally said, perhaps unjustly, that the pick of the manhood of Holland +joins the navy in preference to the army. One fact shows that there is no +difficulty in obtaining the required number of recruits to man the fleet, +for while the nominal law is that of conscription for the navy as well as +for the army, all the necessary contingent is obtained by voluntary +enlistment. No doubt the large fishing and boating classes provide +excellent material, and a comparatively short spell of service on board a +man-of-war offers an agreeable break in their lives. The Dutch being a +nautical race by tradition as well as by the daily work of a large portion +of them, there is nothing uncongenial in a naval career. No difficulty is +experienced in obtaining the services of the seven thousand seamen and two +thousand five hundred marine infantry who form the permanent staff of the +Dutch navy, and if the country's finances enabled it to build more ships, +there would be no serious difficulty in providing the required number of +men to furnish their crews. + +In 1897 some steps were taken in this direction, and a credit of five +millions sterling for a ship-building programme was voted. Its operations +have not yet been brought to a conclusion, but a torpedo fleet has been +created for the defence of the Zuyder Zee, supplementing the defences at +Helder and the Texel. Something has also been done in the same direction +for the defence of Batavia and the ports of Java. The Dutch navy might be +correctly described as a good little one, quite equal to the everyday work +required of it, but not of the size or standard to play an ambitious +_role_. We should not, however, overlook the fact that its addition to the +navy of another Power would be as important an augmentation of strength as +was the case when Pichegru added the Dutch fleet to that of France by +capturing it with cavalry and horse artillery while ice-bound in the +Zuyder Zee. Nor can we always count on a Duncan to end the story as at +Camperdown. + +The impression left on an observer of the military and naval classes in +Holland is that they are not animated by a very strong martial spirit. +Clothed in a military costume, they are still essentially men of peace, +who would be sorry to commit an act of violence or do an injury to any +one. The officers as a class are devoted to the technical part of their +work, and are thoroughly well posted in the science of war. But whether it +is due to the long peace, to the spread of prosperity among all classes of +the community, or to the lymphatic character of the race, it is not easy +to persuade one's self that the Dutch army, taken as a whole, is a +formidable instrument of war. + +This feeling must be corrected by a study of history, and by recognizing +that there are no symptoms of deterioration in the sturdy qualities of the +Dutch people. Physically and morally the Netherlanders of to-day are the +equals of their forefathers, but the conditions of their national life, +the fortunate circumstances that have so long made them unacquainted with +the terrible ordeals of war, have diverted their thoughts from a bellicose +policy, and have confirmed them in their peaceful leanings. How far these +tendencies have diminished their fighting-power, and rendered them unequal +to accept or bear the sacrifices that would be entailed by any strenuous +defence of their country against serious invasion by a Great Power, must +remain a matter of opinion. Perhaps their organization has become somewhat +rusty. Reforms are admitted to be necessary. The annual contingent is +altogether too small for the needs of the age; a great and efficient +national reserve should be created; and in good time the army ought to be +raised to the numbers that would enable it to man and hold the numerous +and excellent forts which have been constructed at all vital points. The +Dutch plans of defence are excellent, but to carry them all out a very +considerable army would be necessary, and at the present moment Holland +possesses only the skeleton of an army. + +Leaving the question of numbers and military organization aside, only +praise can be given to the Dutch soldier individually. He is clean, civil, +good-tempered, and with a far closer resemblance to Englishmen in what we +regard as essentials than any other Continental. The officers are in the +truest sense gentlemen free from swagger, and not over-bearing towards +their men and their civilian compatriots. They represent a genuine type of +manhood, free from artificiality or falsehood. One feels instinctively +that they say what they think, and that they will do rather more instead +of less than they promise. + + + + +Chapter XXI + +Holland Over Sea + + + +Holland holds the second place among the successful colonizing nations, +though Powers like England, France, and Germany surpass her in the actual +area of their colonies and protectorates. Besides her East Indian +possessions, which form by far the most important part of her colonial +empire, she holds Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, and six small islands, +including Curacao, in the West Indies, and her colonial subjects number +in all more than thirty-six millions, being as many as the colonial +subjects of France and at least seven times the population of the +Netherlands in Europe. The East Indian Archipelago belonging to the +Netherlands consists of five large islands and a great number of smaller +ones. It is not within the scope of a book like this to go into details +of geographical division, but a glance at the map will show us that the +three groups which make up this dependency are extended over a length of +about three thousand miles, and inclucle Java and Sumatra, Borneo, +Celebes, New Guinea, the Timor Laut archipelago, and the Moluccos. The +northern part of Borneo is a British possession, and the eastern half of +New Guinea is divided between England and Germany, while half of the +island of Timor is Portuguese; the rest of the archipelago forms the +possession known as Netherlands India, or the Dutch East Indies. The +most important and the most densely populated of these islands are Java +and Sumatra; at the last census, in 1899, Java alone had twenty-six +millions of inhabitants, more than four times as many as in 1826, but the +richness of its soil is so great that it could support a much larger +population, though the island is only about the same size as England. + +Java was taken by the English in 1811 from the French flag, but was +restored at the Peace of Vienna to the Netherlands, together with some of +the other Dutch colonies. As Dr. Bright remarks in his 'History of +England,' 'it has been believed that its value and wealth were not +thoroughly known or appreciated by the Ministry at the time.' It has now +become by far the most important of the Dutch dependencies, and the +favourite colony for fortune-hunters. + +Considering the great wealth of the Dutch Indies, it is a little +surprising that so few young men are tempted to go out there to seek +their fortunes. As is usually the case in the tropics, those parts of the +coasts which are low and marshy are very unhealthy for Europeans, who +cannot stay in such places for any length of time without falling victims +to malaria, though the Malays do not seem to be affected by the climate; +but higher up, from 500 to 1000 feet above the sea, it is healthy enough, +and up the hills, in the larger islands, the climate leaves little to be +desired. The temperature generally varies between 70 and 90 degrees all +the year round, though there is a certain amount of difference between +one island and another. North of the equator the rainy monsoon lasts from +October to April, and the dry season from April to October, while on the +south side these seasons are reversed. On the line, however, the +trade-winds and monsoons appear very irregularly, because there are four +seasons instead of two--that is to say, two rainy and two dry--and the +weather is also subject to frequent changes of a local character, +especially in the neighbourhood of mountain-ranges and volcanoes. With +the exception of Borneo and the central part of Celebes all these islands +are volcanic. In the principal group, which stretches from Sumatra and +Java to the Timor Laut archipelago, there are no less than thirty-three +active volcanoes, of which twelve are in Java, besides a number of +so-called extinct ones which may at any moment burst into renewed life. +Some of the smaller islands are merely sunken volcanoes, such as Gebeh, +for instance, and the Banda Islands, where the 'Goonong Api' +(Fire-Mountain) is a living proof. The best known of all these volcanoes +is the terrible Cracatao, one of the three which may be seen in the +Straits of Sunda. Readers may remember the great eruption of 1886, when +half the island of Cracatao and part of the mountain, which was split +clean in two, were swallowed up in the sea, and parts of the coasts of +Java and Sumatra were overwhelmed by the tidal wave that accompanied the +outburst, ships being lifted bodily on to the land and left perched among +the hills. In one day and night 100,000 persons perished, and except a +slight earthquake, which, as earthquakes are not uncommon in that part of +the world, was naturally not regarded as serious, there was no warning of +the impending disaster, for the crater had shown no signs of life for 200 +years. During the eruption a roar as of distant artillery could be heard +in the middle of Java, fully 400 miles from the scene. + +The form of the islands prevents the existence of very large rivers; the +largest are in Borneo, the only non-volcanic island in the archipelago +which can boast of three navigable rivers each about 400 miles long. +Owing to the narrowness of Java and Sumatra, the rivers flowing towards +the north-east coasts of these islands are very rapid, and as they are +liable to be suddenly swollen by heavy rains, canals have been dug, and +others are in course of construction, to ensure a regular outflow and +protect the land from floods. In an undertaking of this kind the Dutch are +quite at home, for, as every one knows, they are past masters in the art +of taming the waters; but they have not to push back the sea here, as they +have done and are still doing in their native country; the rivers do that +for them, by bringing down masses of gravel and mud, which form wide banks +at their mouths and are soon overgrown with trees. The lighthouse at +Batavia, in Java, was built about the middle of the seventeenth century at +what was then the entrance to the harbour; now it is two and a half miles +from the entrance, the shore having advanced that distance in 250 years. + +Before passing to the question of government, it may be well to notice the +principal races with which the Dutch have to deal. Besides the native +population, the Dutch Indies contained in 1892 about 446,000 Chinese, +20,000 Arabs, and 26,000 other Asiatics, but only 55,000 Europeans, +including the soldiers, many of whom are Germans. The greater part of all +these are found in Java. Of the remaining 355 millions the majority are +Malays, including Malays proper and several kindred races, and to this +last class belong the Javanese, who live in Java, Madura, Bally (or Bali), +and Lombok. Natives other than Malays are the Dyaks, in the interior of +Borneo; the Battaks, in the interior of Sumatra; and finally the Papuans, +who inhabit New Guinea, or Papua, and some of the small islands near. +These Papuans are said to be of the same race as the Australian +aborigines, and are the only black people in these islands, the other +inhabitants being light brown or copper-coloured. In religion, most of the +Malays are Mohammedans, but the people of Bally and Lombok are still +Brahmins, while the Dyaks and Battaks are of very primitive faiths. From +remote times until 1478 Brahminism and Buddhism were the principal +religions, but in that year the faith of Islam began to supersede them. +The ancient religions were responsible for a degree of civilization never +arrived at by the Mohammedans, traces of which are seen in the numerous +ruins of cities and temples that must have been of great beauty and +grandeur which are found in Java, and also in the Javanese literature, +which is written in its own peculiar characters, and the 'wayangs,' or +shadow-plays, which are performed on every festive occasion, and all of +which refer to a history of conquest and wars waged in the times of +Brahminism. + +Here the problem which confronts the Dutch authorities is the old one of +uniting under one Government populations differing in blood and religion, +a problem which always presents great difficulties and even a certain +amount of danger. The system adopted resembles, to some extent, that +applied to certain native States in British India, and the islands are +governed by native kings and princes, under the paternal supervision of +the Netherlands India Government, which consists of a Governor-General, or +Viceroy, and a Council of four Councillors of State, of which the Viceroy +is President. Under these there are three Governors and thirty-four +Residents, all Europeans, with several Assistant-Residents and +'Controleurs,' each of whom has a district assigned to him, in which he +has to maintain order and see that the land is kept in proper cultivation. +The Indian princes are made Government officials by the fact of being +paid by the Dutch Government, and bear the official titles of Regent, +'Demang,' etc., but they also keep their own grander-sounding titles, such +as 'Raden Adipatti,' and so on, of which they are naturally very proud. It +is the duty of a Resident to advise the Regent of his district and at the +same time to keep a watch on him and see that he does not oppress his +subjects. If a Regent is proved to be guilty of oppression, or in case of +sedition or the fostering of rebellion, he is deposed by the Government, +and a better man is appointed in his place, if possible one of his own +relatives, so that the lower classes may be protected and the authority of +the native nobility be upheld at the same time. In some 'up-country' +districts, in Borneo and Celebes, however, the native rulers are +practically independent, and the Dutch Government is not at present +inclined to assert its authority by force of arms; while in the north-west +of Sumatra, though the Atchinese pirates have at last been suppressed, the +war party is not yet extinct. + +Throughout these dependencies the aim of the Government is to rule the +inhabitants through men of their own race, not to substitute +foreigners for natives; and if fault can be found with this policy it +is that too little restraint is put upon the intermixture of the white +and coloured races. + +The splendid fertility of the soil and the great quantity of land yet +uncultivated naturally led the Dutch to seek some means by which the +natural advantages of their islands might be put to better use, and to +this end they set to work to overcome the indolent habits of the natives, +who were not inclined to do more than they considered necessary for their +own subsistence, and to induce them to devote more of their time and +energies to agriculture. In return for good roads and bridges and the +protection afforded by the Government, the natives were induced to give a +certain amount of their time to the cultivation of coffee, sugar, indigo, +and other crops. In this way they were taxed not in coin but in labour; +and this system, known as the 'Culture System,' has produced very good +results, especially in Java and Madura. Gradually, however, under the +influence of the younger members of the governing nation, the cultivation +of sugar and partly that of coffee also was dropped by the Government, and +left to private enterprise, but, supervision by the Government being +thereby abandoned, cases occurred of abuse of power by the +_concessionnaires_; and though much has been done to prevent such abuse, +it must be admitted that the condition of native workmen is not so good in +the private concessions as it was under the direct authority of the +Government. + +Meanwhile, the outlook is promising; the development of the natural +resources of the islands goes steadily on, though the rate of progress may +not be particularly rapid, and the inhabitants are generally peaceful and +well-behaved, while their number increases at a rate which seems to +indicate continued and growing prosperity. The schools, too, are doing +good work, and more and more of the natives are learning the language of +their rulers. When a Malay has learned enough Dutch to express himself +fairly clearly in that language, he is very proud of the accomplishment, +and seldom misses an opportunity of displaying his knowledge. + +One of the greatest drawbacks to the moral advance of the native is the +bad example set by Europeans, on which it will be needful to say more +later. Things are not nearly so bad in this respect as they formerly were, +but still the unprincipled life which many of the white men are leading +gives rise to doubt in the native mind as to the blessings of Western +civilization. + +That the native races are generally well-disposed towards the Dutch is +borne out by the number that take service under the Government as police +and as soldiers. Every two or three miles along the Government roads in +Java one may meet a 'Gardoe,' or patrol of the country police, consisting +of three bare-footed Javanese constables, in uniform of a semi-European +cut and armed with kreeses. + +As we have already seen, the Army which the Dutch maintain in their East +Indian colonies is quite distinct from the Home Army of Holland. On their +arrival the men are quartered in barracks, and the officers and married +non-commissioned officers find houses at a moderate rent close by. The +barracks consist not of single buildings but of many separate ones, so +that the different races among the native troops may be kept distinct. +Malays, Javanese, Madurese, Amboinese, Bugis, Macassarese, and the rest +must all have separate buildings to themselves. Formerly there were +Ashantees too, but the recruiting of these was stopped when the colony of +St. George del Mina, on the Gold Coast, was transferred to England on the +surrender of British claims in the north of Sumatra; very good soldiers +they were, but cruel in war, giving no quarter, and very difficult to +restrain in the heat of action. The native troops are officered by +Europeans, but the sergeants and corporals are always of the same race as +the men under them. + +Great care is taken to safeguard the health of the troops, not only in the +arrangement of barracks and in the selection of positions for garrisons, +which are chosen as much on hygienic as on strategic grounds, but also by +the establishment of military hospitals. In most large towns, and in +smaller places on the coast where forts have been built, there are +military hospitals, and to these any European, whether soldier or +civilian, who falls ill is immediately taken; in fact, no others exist, +except some sanatoria recently founded in the hills. A naval officer who +often visited these hospitals, as well as hospital ships in war time, +describes them as 'models of neatness, cleanliness, order, and +usefulness.' 'Life in such a hospital,' he declares, 'is a luxury, not to +be compared with anything of the kind in neighbouring colonies.' + +For many years a considerable force has been constantly employed in +Atchin, and a number of ships of war have been cruising along the coast to +assist in the suppression of piracy. + +The Colonial Fleet is made up of some warships built in Holland and others +built in India, expressly for the Indian service, including a number of +small coasting-steamers and sailing-vessels, and a steamer or two +specially detailed for hydrographical work. The necessity for these last +arises from the shoals and coral-reefs which abound in the Java and Flores +Seas, in the Straits of Macassar, and among the Moluccos, and from the +fact that the creeks and river-mouths are very shallow, and full of +convenient hiding-places for pirate proas; it is most important, +therefore, that both men-of-war and merchantmen should be kept supplied +with good charts. + +Piracy is an evil which the Colonial Fleet is specially designed to check, +and it used to be very bad at one time before the Ballinese War of 1845. +In the year before this, a Dutch merchantman, the _Overyssel_, stranded on +the coast of Bally, and the crew were massacred, and ship and cargo looted +by the Ballinese. This led to three expeditions; one in 1845, another, +which was undertaken with an insufficient force and ended in disaster to +the Dutch, in 1847, and the third and final one, successfully carried out +by an army of 10,000 men and six warships, together with 6000 auxiliary +troops from the island of Lombok. But while piracy was thus put down to +the east of Java, the Atchinese pirates grew bolder than ever in the west, +and complaints from Malay traders who were Netherlands subjects became +more and more frequent. Numerous punitive expeditions were sent against +the piratical Rajas in the north-west of Sumatra, but in most cases the +real culprits escaped. At last, about 1873, the Government resolved to put +an end to this state of things, and a force under General van Swieten +seized the Kraton, or chief fortress. General van der Heyden took over the +command in 1877, and soon captured and fortified Kota Raja, and two years +later, though his troops suffered heavily from the climate, he had the +whole country of Atchin subdued. The Home Government, however, misled by +the apparent submission of the enemy, did away with military rule before +they had made certain that no treachery was meditated, and on the arrival +of a civil Governor all the advantages which had been won were again lost, +and at last a state of war had to be proclaimed once more. From that time +onward the Atchinese War became a chronic disease, but since an aggressive +policy was adopted in 1898 the war party in Atchin has rapidly diminished, +and it is now almost extinct. Fighting of a guerilla kind is reported from +time to time, but peace is so far restored that the General is able to +send some of his men home, and the people can cultivate their rice-fields +and pepper-gardens unmolested. They are for the most part well disposed +towards the Dutch, whose officers, in their proclamations, have always +been careful to explain that the war was only against the murderers and +robbers who made the coasts and country unsafe, and that no one would be +harmed so long as he went peacefully about his business. Piracy on the +Atchinese coast is now also a thing of the past, and will be so as long as +the Government remains firm. + +To turn to more peaceful subjects, Netherlands India is favoured above +most lands in the richness and variety of its products, its mineral wealth +alone being sufficient to make it a most valuable possession from a +commercial point of view. A part of the Government revenue is derived from +the sale of tin, which is found in several islands, and coal-fields exist +in Sumatra and Laut, while gold is found on the west coast of Borneo and +also in Sumatra, where the Ophir district no doubt owes its name to the +presence of the precious metal. Another mineral product is petroleum, +which has made the fortunes of several lucky colonists; it is found in +many places, but the principal supply comes from Sumatra. These are some +of the chief products, but they by no means exhaust the list, nor is the +wealth of the colonies confined to minerals; there are the +pearl-fisheries, for example, amongst the little islands lying south-west +of New Guinea, and the Moluccos contribute mother-of-pearl and +tortoise-shell, but the real wealth of the islands lies in the +extraordinary fertility of the soil. Most of the land is clay, coloured +red by the iron ore which it contains, and will grow almost anything, +besides being very suitable for making bricks. Sugar, tea, coffee, indigo, +and tobacco are grown in large quantities for export, and the principal +crops cultivated by the natives are rice (in the marshy districts), maize, +cotton, and many kinds of fruit which are also grown in British India. +Most of the inhabitants are tillers of the soil, but the maritime natives +are naturally occupied chiefly in the fisheries, and it is a very pretty +sight, at any little fishing village, to see the boats start out for the +hoped-for haul. Just before sunrise scores of little fishing-boats with +bamboo masts and huge triangular mat-sails slip out of the creeks before +the fresh land-wind, which lasts just long enough to carry them to the +fishing-ground in the offing, and about four o'clock in the afternoon a +sea-breeze springs up, and back they all come, generally laden with +splendid fish. The evening breeze often attains such strength that the +little boats would capsize if it were not for a balancing-board pushed out +to windward, on which one or two, or sometimes three, men stand to act as +a counterpoise, so that it may not be necessary to shorten sail. The +Malays excel in boat-building, and rank very high in the art of shaping +vessels which offer the least possible resistance to the water, and their +boats fly over the surface of the sea in the most wonderful manner. If we +except the rude tree-trunks used here and there, the vessels made by the +Malays may serve, and have served, as models for swift sailing-craft all +over the world. + +Amongst the other industries for which the Malays, and the Javanese +especially, are noted, the principal is the manufacture of textile +fabrics; sometimes these are very skilfully dyed in ornamental patterns, +and show considerable artistic taste. + +Besides boat-building and weaving, the crafts of the blacksmith and +carpenter should be mentioned, and also that of the gold and silver smith, +for this indicates the source of many of the treasures with which wealthy +Dutch homes in the old country abound. + +Now that the war in Atchin is practically over it is not unlikely that +the next few years may see greater advances in the commerce and industries +of Netherlands India, especially as the trade returns report that a great +industrial awakening is taking place at the present time in Holland, in +which case there will be a rush of emigrants to the colonies. As has been +said before, the climate out there is not unhealthy as a rule, but of +course Europeans have to adapt their life to their surroundings. Profiting +by the example of the natives, they have learned to make their houses very +airy and cool. A large overhanging roof shades the entrances, front and +rear, and the windows are without glass, except in the old cities, its +place being taken by bamboo Venetian blinds. Verandahs run along the front +and back of the house, which has generally one story only, and never more +than two, and the rooms open either on these verandahs or on a central +room which divides the house through the middle. The kitchen and +store-rooms are in outbuildings at the back, and the garden all round the +house is planted with cocoanut, banana, and mango trees, for the sake of +their shade as well as for the fruit. + +On paying a visit to such a house you go up two or three steps on to the +front verandah, where a servant-boy offers you a chair and a drink, and +then goes to find his master, who presently joins you. You are never +asked to 'come in;' if the front verandah is too hot, an adjournment is +made to the back. Sometimes, in the interior of the country, visitors are +received in the garden, where they enjoy their cheroot Indian fashion, +reclining rather than sitting. But this _dolce far niente_ does not kill +work, for merchants in the towns work pretty hard, and have to be at +their offices during the heat of the day, from nine to five, and even on +Sunday, if it happens to be mail-day. Other people take life rather +easier, especially in the country, where the routine is as follows more +or less: rise at six, bathe, breakfast at seven; then dress and go to +work at nine; at twelve o'clock lunch, after which one lies down to sleep +or read for a couple of hours; tea at four, and then a second bath. After +five it is cool enough to dress and go for a walk or drive until +dinner-time, and after dinner you may go for another drive or visit your +neighbours. On Sundays you go to church from eleven to twelve, and take +things easy for the rest of the day. + +Travelling, if for any distance, is done at night, both by Europeans and +natives, and if a native has to walk far he usually carries a mat, and +when the day begins to get hot he unrolls his mat and lies down on it by +the roadside. It does not surprise any one, therefore, to find seeming +idlers asleep in the daytime along the roadside. Naturally, the little +wayside shops which are found at every corner are not shut up or removed +at night, as most of their trade is done then, but if customers are few +the shopkeeper will fall asleep among his wares. The Government roads are +well guarded by the native police, and at regular intervals there are +stations where fresh horses can be procured if they are bespoken in time +by letter or telegraph. + +The colonist's life does not seem to be a very hard one on the whole, +though no doubt there are drawbacks, such as, for instance, the want of +schools. At present many Dutch children born in India are sent to Holland +to be educated, not, as in the case of Anglo-Indians, for the sake of +their health, but because there is not a sufficient number of schools in +these colonies. This want will be remedied in time, so that colonists may +be spared the trouble and expense of sending their children to Europe; but +the only Dutch schools in Java that I know of are the 'Gymnasium' at +Willem III (Batavia) and one high school for girls. Native schools are +more numerous, and are being multiplied not only by the Government but by +the missionaries. The attitude of the Indian Government towards missionary +work has changed immensely for the better in the last forty years, and the +labours of the missionaries are now appreciated very highly by both the +Indian and the Home Government, and deservedly so, for the task of the +Government has been very much lightened through the improvement in the +attitude of the natives, owing largely to the work of the missions. + +As to the life and customs of the natives, it is not necessary to +describe all the different races, but the Malay villages deserve notice. +In Java and Sumatra these are not arranged in streets, but the houses are +grouped under large trees, and are separated from the road by a bamboo +fence, on the top of which notice boards are fixed at intervals bearing +the names of the villages; these are necessary, because it is often +difficult to see where one village ends and the next begins. In the open +spaces may be seen a few sacred 'waringin' trees, in which are hung +wooden bells, used to sound an alarm or call the villagers together. +Before the house of a native Regent is an open square, with a 'Pandoppo,' +or roof on pillars in the centre, and here meetings are held, +proclamations read, and distinguished visitors received. The houses are +built of bamboo and roofed with palm-leaves; and sometimes they have +floors of split bamboo, but often the hard clay soil serves as a floor. +There are usually two or more sleeping-places, called 'bale-bales,' also +made of bamboo, split and plaited, and over these another floor, which +forms a sort of loft or store-room. There is no fireplace, all the +cooking being done outside. Such a house can be bought for about five +shillings! It takes a few men two or three weeks to build one, but to +take it down and remove it to a new site is a matter of only a few hours. +Near the houses are the stables, where the buffaloes and carts are kept, +and here and there is a well, over which hangs a balancing-pole with a +bucket at one end and a stone at the other. + +The children play about naked until they are ten years old, when they +dress like their elders, and consider themselves men and women. The +costume of the Malay women consists of the 'sarong,' a cloth about 31/2 +yards long and 11/2 wide, which is wound round the body and held by a belt +and then rolled up just above the feet; over this a wide coat called a +'kabaya' is worn, and over all a 'slendang,' which is very like a +'sarong,' but is worn hanging over one shoulder, and in this is slung +anything too large to be easily carried in the hands--even the baby. The +men wear either 'sarongs' or trousers, or both, and a cotton jacket, and +are always armed either with kreeses or chopping-knives, carried in their +belts; the weapons are for cutting down cocoanuts and bamboo, and for +protection against snakes and tigers. Both sexes wear their hair long, the +men with head-cloths and the women with flowers and herbs, and all go +bare-footed. The men are very good horsemen, and ride, like the Zulus and +other coloured men, with only their big toes in the stirrups. + +In Bally and Lombok the inhabitants are of the same race as the people of +Java and Sumatra, but differ in religion and habits, having never been +wholly subjected by the Mohammedans. The difference is chiefly noticeable +in the construction of their houses, which are of stone in many cases, +and built in streets. Each house has three compartments and a fireplace, +or altar, which stands in the middle, opposite the door, the floors are +sometimes paved, and the roofs are often covered with tiles instead of +leaves, and supported by carved pillars. + +These Brahmins have numerous temples, which are quite different from +anything in the neighbouring islands, being built of brick and divided +into sections by low walls, but without roofs; walls and gates are painted +red, white, and blue, and inside stand a number of altars, on which +offerings are laid. Brahminism survives in some of the other islands, at +some distance from the coast, and occasionally a religious festival ends +in a riot between Brahmins and Mohammedans. + +The staple food of the Malay races is rice, which is cooked very dry, with +fried or dried fish or shrimps and vegetables, and flavoured with chilis, +onions, and salt. Dried beef and venison are also used, and wild pig and +chickens and ducks are plentiful; other articles of food being maize, +sweet potatoes, and many kinds of fruit, such as cocoa-nuts, bananas, +mangoes, mangusteens, and so on. In the Moluccos the staple crop is not +rice, but sago, which is prepared from the sap of the sago-palm. To an +inhabitant of Java or Sumatra the cocoa-nut tree is indispensable; when a +child is born, a nut is planted, and later on, if the child asks how old +he is, his mother shows him the young palm, and tells him that he is 'as +old as that cocoa-nut tree.' The nuts are boiled for the oil, and the +white flesh is eaten, cooked in various ways, generally with other food. +All kinds of provisions and other goods, from butcher's meat to needles +and thread, are sold at the 'passars,' or markets, which are attended by +large crowds. + +Mention has been made of the moral example set by some Europeans to the +natives. Generally the relations between the white and coloured races are +those of superiors and inferiors, but in the matter of matrimony there is +a difference. Many white men in Netherlands India never dream of marrying; +they take to themselves 'Njais,' or house-keepers. The same thing is done +in other colonies, at least in provinces far removed from European +society, when native customs allow it. The ancient customs of the Malays +and Javanese did not prescribe any religious ceremony for marriages; they +had their 'adat,' or customs, which were as strictly adhered to as if they +had been religious, but there was nothing consecrating the marriage tie. +Moreover, their notions of hospitality, which are similar to those of most +primitive races, no doubt encouraged the above-mentioned free marriages, +or at least they explain how it was that the Malay women had no objection +to becoming the 'Njais' of Europeans. Where such a woman was the daughter +of a prince or chief, the European who took her was invariably some high +official, whose position brought him into contact with noble Javanese +families. These young women are remarkably graceful, even fascinating, and +besides have received a good Javanese education, and it is not surprising +that such 'marriages' were sometimes happy and permanent. + +The sons were sent to Europe to be educated, being entrusted to the care +of a guardian, uncle, or friend, and on their return to India soon found +employment in the service of the Government; the girls stayed at home, and +generally married well. + +Such instances, however, are rare; more often the man regarded his 'Njai' +merely as a temporary helpmate, and if he saw a chance would marry some +rich European girl, when the Indian wife would be set aside--'sent into +the bush,' as the phrase was. That such behaviour should have roused the +wrath and hatred of the discarded wives and their relatives was but +natural. Often the European bride, sometimes the faithless husband too, +fell by the hand of a murderer who could never be found, or was poisoned +by a maidservant or cook who was bought over to assist in the work of +vengeance. The cast-out children sometimes played a part in these +tragedies; if not, they certainly retained a hatred of Europeans +generally, and rumours of mutiny were the consequence. + +How this state of things can be remedied is a question which has long +occupied the attention of the Government. Gradually, however, the mixed +population is becoming more educated, and can find employment in +Government and mercantile offices, as all excel in beautiful handwriting. +A better feeling generally exists, and a keener sense of social duty is +coming over the Europeans, so that a good many have really married the +mothers of their children, a thing which fifty years ago was never heard +of. There now exists a mixed race of Eurasians, children of the children +of European fathers and Indian mothers, which at one time threatened to +become a source of danger and insurrection, but all fear of trouble in +that quarter is past. Of the 'inland children' many are now receiving a +good education. In the Government schools they can learn enough to hold +their own in point of knowledge against a large proportion of the +Europeans in the colony, and they find employment in offices and shops, on +the railway and post-office staffs, and on public works almost as quickly +as pure whites. + + + + +Index + + + +Administrative system +Amusements, national +Army, the +Art, modern + +Canals and their population, the +Capital, life in the +Capital punishment +Characteristics, national +Christmas customs +Church, relation of State to +Churches, Dutch +Clergymen, Dutch +Colonies, the Dutch +Costume, rural +Court, the +Customs, popular + +Divorce, the law of +Dykes, the + +Easter customs +Education, public + +Farms and farmers +Freemasonry, Dutch +Friendly Societies +Funerals, customs at + +Games, children's +Girls, freedom of Dutch + +Home life + +Indies, the Dutch + +Justice, administration of + +'Kermis,' the + +Labour, conditions of +Law court, description of a Dutch +Literature and literary life + +Marriage and marriage customs +Music + +National Characteristics, types, +Navy, the +Newspapers, the + +'Palm Paschen,' +Peasantry, the +Poets, modern Dutch +Political life and parties +Press, the +Professional classes, the + +Queen Wilhelmina + +Readers, the Dutch as +Reading Societies +Religions life +Renaissance, the literary +'Rommelpot' +Rural customs + +Schools, the +Sculpture in Holland +Skaters, the Dutch as +Social life +Society, Dutch +Song, national love of +State, relation of Church to +St. Nicholas, festival of +Student life +Sunday in the country + +Theatre, the +Thrift, Dutch + +Universities, the + +Village life + +Wages of labour +Wedding customs +Women, position of +Working classes, the + + + +The End + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Dutch Life in Town and Country, by P. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Dutch Life in Town and Country + +Author: P. M. Hough + +Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8823] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 13, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: The Delft Gate at Rotterdam.] + + + +Dutch Life in Town and Country + +By + +P. M. Hough, B.A. + +With Thirty-Two Illustrations + + + + +Contents + + + + I. National Characteristics + II. Court and Society + III. The Professional Classes + IV. The Position of Women + V. The Workman of the Towns + VI. The Canals and Their Population + VII. A Dutch Village + VIII. The Peasant at Home + IX. Rural Customs + X. Kermis and St. Nicholas + XI. National Amusements + XII. Music and the Theatre + XIII. Schools and School Life + XIV. The Universities + XV. Art and Letters + XVI. The Dutch as Readers + XVII. Political Life and Thought +XVIII. The Administration of Justice + XIX. Religious Life and Thought + XX. The Army and Navy + XXI. Holland Over Sea + +Index + + + + +List of Illustrations + + + +The Delft Gate at Rotterdam +Types of Zeeland Women +Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type +A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type +Dutch Fisher Girls +A Bridal Pair Driving Home +A Dutch Street Scene +A Sea-Going Canal +A Village in Dyke-Land +A Canal in Dordrecht +An Overyssel Farmhouse +An Overyssel Farmhouse +Approach to an Overyssel Farm +Zeeland Costume +Zeeland Costumes +An Itinerant Linen-Weaver +Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Linen-Press +Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse +A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable +Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor +Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs +Rommel Pot +A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume +Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur +An Overyssel Peasant Woman +Zeeland Children in State +Kermis 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' +St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th +Skating to Church +Parliament House at the Hague--View From the Great Lake +Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers Worshipped + Before Leaving for New England) +Utrect Cathedral + + + + + +Dutch Life in Town and Country + + + + +Chapter I + +National Characteristics + + + +There is in human affairs a reason for everything we see, although not +always reason in everything. It is the part of the historian to seek in +the archives of a nation the reasons for the facts of common experience +and observation, it is the part of the philosopher to moralize upon +antecedent causes and present results. Neither of these positions is taken +up by the author of this little book. He merely, as a rule, gives the +picture of Dutch life now to be seen in the Netherlands, and in all things +tries to be scrupulously fair to a people renowned for their kindness and +courtesy to the stranger in their midst. + +And this strikes one first about Holland--that everything, except the old +Parish Churches, the Town Halls, the dykes and the trees, is in +miniature. The cities are not populous, the houses are not large, the +canals are not wide, and one can go from the most northern point in the +country to the most southern, or from the extreme east to the extreme +west, in a single day, and, if it be a summer's day, in _day-light_, +while from the top of the tower of the Cathedral at Utrecht one can look +over a large part of the land. + +[Illustration: Types of Zeeland Women.] + +As it is with the natural so it is with the political horizon. This latter +embraces for the average Dutchman the people of a country whose interests +seem to him bound up for the most part in the twelve thousand square miles +of lowland pressed into a corner of Europe; for, extensive as the Dutch +colonies are, they are not 'taken in' by the average Dutchman as are the +colonies of some other nations. There are one or two towns, such as The +Hague and Arnhem, where an Indo-Dutch Society may be found, consisting of +retired colonial civil servants, who very often have married Indian women, +and have either returned home to live on well-earned pensions or who +prefer to spend the money gained in India in the country which gave them +birth. But Holland has not yet begun to develop as far as she might the +great resources of Netherlands India, and therefore no very great amount +of interest is taken in the colonial possessions outside merely home, +official, or Indo Dutch society. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type.] + +With regard to the affairs of his country generally, the state of mind of +the average Dutchman has been well described as that of a man well on in +years, who has amassed a fair fortune, and now takes things easily, and +loves to talk over the somewhat wild doings of his youth. Nothing is more +common than to hear the remarks from both old and young, 'We _have_ been +great,' 'We have _had_ our time,' 'Every nation reaches a climax;' and +certainly Holland has been very great in statesmen, patriots, theologians, +artists, explorers, colonizers, soldiers, sailors, and martyrs. The names +of William the Silent, Barneveldt, Arminius, Rembrandt, Rubens, Hobbema, +Grotius, De Ruyter, Erasmus, Ruysdael, Daendels, Van Speijk, Tromp afford +proof of the pertinacity, courage, and devotion of Netherland's sons in +the great movements which have sprung from her soil. + +To have successfully resisted the might of a Philip of Spain and the +strategy and cruelties of an Alva is alone a title-deed to imperishable +fame and honour. Dutch men and women fought and died at the dykes, and +suffered awful agonies on the rack and at the stake. 'They sang songs of +triumph,' so the record runs, 'while the grave diggers were shovelling +earth over their living faces.' It is not, therefore, to be wondered at +that a legacy of true and deep feeling has been bequeathed to their +descendants, and the very suspicion of injustice or infringement of what +they consider liberty sets the Dutchman's heart aflame with patriotic +devotion or private resentment. Phlegmatic, even comal, and most difficult +to move in most things, yet any 'interference' wakes up the dormant spirit +which that Prince of Orange so forcibly expressed when he said, in +response to a prudent soldier's ear of consequences if resistance were +persisted in, 'We can at least die in the last ditch.' + +Until one understands this tenacity in the Dutch character one cannot +reconcile the old world methods seen all over the country with the +advanced ideas expressed in conversation, books, and newspapers. The +Dutchman hates to be interfered with, and resents the advice of candid +friends, and cannot stand any 'chaff.' He has his kind of humour, which is +slow in expression and material in conception, but he does not understand +'banter.' He is liberal in theories, but intensely conservative in +practice. He will _agree_ with a new theory, but often _do_ as his +grandfather did, and so in Holland there may be seen very primitive +methods side by side with _fin de siècle_ thought. In a _salon_ in any +principal town there will be thought the most advanced, and manner of life +the most luxurious; but a stone's-throw off, in a cottage or in a +farmhouse just outside the town, may be witnessed the life of the +seventeenth century. Some of the reasons for this may be gathered from the +following pages as they describe the social life and usages of the people. + +In the seven provinces which comprise the Netherlands there are +considerable differences in scenery, race, dialect, pronunciation, and +religion, and therefore in the features and character of the people. +United provinces in the course of time effect a certain homogeneity of +purpose and interest, yet there are certain fundamental differences in +character. The Frisian differs from the Zeelander: one is fair and the +other dark, and both differ from the Hollander. And not only do the +provincials differ in character, dialect, and pronunciation from one +another, but also the inhabitants of some cities differ in these respects +from those of other cities. An educated Dutchman can tell at once if a man +comes from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, or The Hague. The 'cockney' of these +places differs, and of such pronunciations 'Hague Dutch' is considered the +worst, although--true to the analogy of London--the best Dutch is heard in +The Hague. This difference in 'civic' pronunciation is certainly very +remarkable when one remembers that The Hague and Rotterdam are only +sixteen miles apart, and The Hague and Amsterdam only forty miles. Arnhem +and The Hague are the two most cosmopolitan cities in the kingdom, and one +meets in their streets all sorts and conditions of the Netherlander. + +[Illustration: A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type.] + +All other towns are provincial in character and akin to the county-town +type. Even Amsterdam, the capital of the country, is only a commercial +capital. The Court is only there for a few days in each year; Parliament +does not meet there; the public offices are not situated there; and +diplomatic representatives are not accredited to the Court at Amsterdam +but to the Court at The Hague; and so Amsterdam is 'the city,' and no more +and no less. This Venice of the North looks coldly on the pleasure seeking +and loving Hague, and jealously on the thriving and rapidly increasing +port of Rotterdam, and its merchant princes build their villas in the +neighbouring and pleasant woods of Bussum and Hilversum, and near the +brilliantly-coloured bulb-gardens of Haarlem, living in these suburban +places during the summer months, while in winter they return to the fine +old houses in the Heerengracht and the many other 'grachten' through which +the waters of the canals move slowly to the river. But to The Hague the +city magnates seldom come, and the young men consider their contemporaries +of the Court capital wanting in energy and initiative, and very proud, and +so there is little communication between the two towns--between the City +and Belgravia. One knows, as one walks in the streets of Amsterdam, The +Hague, Rotterdam, or Utrecht, that each place is a microcosm devoted to +its own particular and narrow interests, and in these respects they are +survivals of the Italian cities of the Middle Ages. There is, indeed, +great similarity in the style of buildings, and, with the exception of +Maestricht, in the south of the country, which is mediæval and Flemish, +one always feels that one is in Holland. The neatness of the houses, the +straight trees fringing the roads, the canals and their smell, the +steam-trams, the sound of the conductor's horn and the bells of the +horse-trams, the type of policeman, and above and beyond all the universal +cigar--all these things are of a pattern, and that pattern is seen +everywhere, and it is not until one has lived in the country for some time +that one recognizes that there are differences in the mode of life in the +larger towns which are more real than apparent, and that this practical +isolation is not realized by the stranger. + +The country life of the peasant, however, is much more uniform in +character, in spite of the many differences in costume and in dialect. The +methods of agriculture are all equally old-fashioned, and the peasants +equally behind the times in thought. Their thrifty habits and devotion to +the soil of their country ensure them a living which is thrown away by the +country folk of other lands, who at the first opportunity flock into the +towns. But the Dutch peasant _is_ a peasant, and does not mix, or want to +mix, with the townsman except in the way of business. He brings his garden +and farm produce for sale, and as soon as that is effected--generally very +much to his own advantage, for he is wonderfully 'slim'--he rattles back, +drawn by his dogs or little pony, to the farmhouse, and relates how he has +come safely back, his stock of produce diminished, but his stock of +inventions and subtleties improved and increased by contact with +housewives and shopkeepers, who do their best to drive a hard bargain. In +dealing with the 'boer' the townspeople's ingenuity is taxed to the utmost +in endeavouring to get the better of one whose nature is heavy but +cunning, and families who have dealt with the same 'boer' vendor for years +have to be as careful as if they were transacting business with an entire +stranger. The 'boer's' argument is simplicity itself: 'They try to get the +better of me, and I try to get the better of them'--and he _does_ it! + +If, however, there are these differences between city and city and class +and class, there is one common characteristic of the Dutchman which, like +the mist which envelops meadow and street alike in Holland after a warm +day, pertains to the whole race, viz. his deliberation, that slowness of +thought, speech, and action which has given rise to such proverbs as 'You +will see such and such a thing done "in a Dutch month."' The Netherlander +is most difficult to move, but once roused he is far more difficult to +pacify. Many reasons are given for this 'phlegm,' and most people +attribute it to the climate, which is very much abused, especially by +Dutch people themselves, because of its sunlessness during the winter +months; though as a matter of fact the climate is not so very different +from that in the greater part of England. The temperature on an average is +a little higher in summer and a little lower in winter than in the eastern +part of England; but certainly there is in the southern part of the +country a softness in the air which is enervating, and in such places as +Flushing snow is seldom seen, and does not lie long. But the same thing is +seen in Cornwall. Hence this climatic influence is not a sufficient reason +in itself to account for the undeniable and general 'slowness' of the +Dutchman. It is to be found rather in the history of the country, which +has taught the Netherlander to attempt to prove by other people's +experience the value of new ideas, and only when he has done so will he +adopt them. This saps all initiative. + +There is a great lack of faith in everything, in secular as well as +religious matters, the Dutchman will risk nothing, for four cents' outlay +he must be quite certain of six cents in return. As long as he is in this +mood the country will 'mark time,' but not advance much. The Dutchman +believes so thoroughly in being comfortable, and, given a modest income +which he has inherited or gained, he will not only not go a penny beyond +it in his expenditure, but often he will live very much below it. He would +never think of 'living up to' his income; his idea is to leave his +children something very tangible in the shape of guldens. A small income +and little or no work is a far more agreeable prospect than a really busy +life allied to a large income. All the cautiousness of the Scotchman the +Dutchman has, but not the enterprise and industry. With his +cosmopolitanism, which he has gained by having to learn and converse in so +many languages, in order to transact the large transfer business of such a +country as the Netherlands, he has acquired all the various views of life +which cosmopolitanism opens to a man's mind. The Dutchman can talk upon +politics extremely well, but his interest is largely academic and not +personal; he is as a man who looks on and loves _desipere in loco_. + +The Dutchman is therefore a philosopher and a delightful _raconteur_, but +at present he is not doing any very great things in the international +battle of life, though when great necessity arises there is no man who can +do more or do better. + + + + +Chapter II + +Court and Society + + + +Society life in Holland is, as everywhere else, the gentle art of escaping +self-confession of boredom. But society in Holland is far different from +society abroad, because The Hague, the official residence of Queen +Wilhelmina, is not only not the capital of her kingdom, but is only the +third town of the country so far as importance and population go. The +Hague is the royal residence and the seat of the Netherlands Government; +but although, as a rule, Cabinet Ministers live there, most of the members +of the First Chamber of the States-General live elsewhere, and a great +many of their colleagues of the Second Chamber follow their example, +preferring a couple of hours' railway travelling per day or per week +during the time the States sit, to a permanent stay. Hence, so far as +political importance goes, society has to do without it to a great extent. +Nor is The Hague a centre of science. The universities of Leyden, Utrecht, +and Amsterdam are very near, but, as the Dutch proverb judiciously says, +'Nearly is not half;' there is a vast difference between having the rose +and the thing next to it. In consequence the leading scientific men of the +Netherlands do not, as a rule, add the charm of their conversation to +social intercourse at The Hague. + +High life there is represented by members of the nobility and by such +high officials in the army, navy, and civil service as mix with that +nobility. Of course there are sets just as there are everywhere else, sets +as delightful to those who are in them as they are distasteful to +outsiders; but talent and money frequently succeed in making serious +inroads upon the preserves of noble birth. This is, however, unavoidable, +for the Netherlands were a republic for two centuries, and the scions of +the ancient houses are not over-numerous. They fought well in the wars of +their country against Spain, France, and Great Britain, but fighting well +in many cases meant extermination. + +On the other hand, two centuries of republican rule are apt to turn any +republicans into patricians, particularly so if they are prosperous, +self-confident, and well aware of their importance. And a patrician +republic necessarily turns into an oligarchy. The prince-merchants of +Holland were Holland's statesmen, Holland's absolute rulers; two centuries +of heroic struggles, intrepid energy, crowned with success on all sides, +may even account for their belief that they were entrusted by the Almighty +with a special mission to bring liberty, equal rights, and prosperity to +other nations. + +When, after Napoleon's downfall, the Netherlands constituted themselves a +kingdom, the depleted ranks of the aristocracy were soon amply filled from +these old patrician families. Clause 65 of the Netherlands constitution +says, 'The Queen grants nobility. No Dutchman may accept foreign +nobility.' This is the only occasion upon which the word nobility appears +in any code. No Act defines the status, privileges, or rights of this +nobility, because there are none. There is, however, a 'Hooge Raad van +Adel,' consisting of a permanent chairman, a permanent secretary, and +four members, whose functions it is to report on matters of nobility, +especially heraldic and genealogic, and on applications from Town Councils +which wish to use some crest or other. This 'High Council of Nobility' +acts under the supervision of the Minister of Justice, and its powers are +regulated by royal decrees, or writs in council. The titles used are +'Jonkheer' (Baronet) and 'Jonkvrouw,' Baron and Baroness, 'Graaf' (Earl) +and 'Gravin.' Marquess and Duke are not used as titles by Dutch noblemen. +If any man is ennobled, ail his children, sons as well as daughters, share +the privilege, so there is no 'courtesy title;' officially they are +indicated by the father's rank from the moment of their birth, but as long +as they are young it is the custom to address the boys as 'Jonker,' the +girls as 'Freule.' + +For the rest, life at The Hague is very much like life everywhere else. In +summer there is a general exodus to foreign countries; in winter, dinners, +bazaars, balls, theatre, opera, a few officiai Court functions, which may +become more numerous in the near future if the young Queen and Prince +Henry are so disposed, are the order of the day. For the present, 'Het +Loo,' that glorious country-seat in the centre of picturesque, hilly, +wooded Gelderland, continues to be the favourite residence of the Court, +and only during the colder season is the palace in the 'Noordeinde,' at +The Hague, inhabited by the Queen. + +Her Majesty, apparently full of youthful mirth and energy, enjoys her life +in a wholesome and genuine manner. State business is, of course, dutifully +transacted; but as the entire constitutional responsibility rests with the +Cabinet Ministers and the High Councils of State, she has no need to feel +undue anxiety about her decisions. She is well educated, a strong patriot, +and has on the whole a serions turn of mind, which came out in pathetic +beauty as she took the oath in the 'Nieuwe Kerk' of Amsterdam at her +coronation. How far she and her husband will influence and lead Society +life in Holland remains to be seen. Both are young, and their union is +younger still. During the late King's life and Queen Emma's subsequent +widowhood, society was for scores of years left to itself, and of course +it has settled down into certain grooves. But, on the other hand, the +tastes and inclinations of well-bred, well to do people, with an +inexhaustible amount of spare time on their hands, and an unlimited +appetite for amusement in their minds, are everywhere the same. Of course, +Ministerial receptions, political dinners, and the intercourse of +Ambassadors and foreign Ministers at The Hague form a special feature of +social life there, but here, again, The Hague is just like European +capitals generally. + +Once every year the Dutch Court and the Dutch capital proper meet. +Legally, by the way, it is inaccurate to indicate even Amsterdam as the +capital of Holland; no statute mentions a capital of the kingdom, but by +common consent Amsterdam, being the largest and most important town, is +always accorded that title, so highly valued by its inhabitants. The Royal +Palace in Amsterdam is royal enough, and it is also sufficiently palatial, +but it is no Royal Palace in the strict sense of the word. It was built +(1649-1655), and for centuries was used, as a Town Hall. As such it is a +masterpiece, and one's imagination can easily go back to the times when +the powerful and masterful Burgomasters and Sheriffs met in the almost +oppressing splendour of its vast hall. It is an ideal meeting-place for +stern merchants, enterprising shipowners, and energetic traders. Every +hall, every room, every ornament speaks of trade, trade, and trade again. +And there lies some grim irony in the fact that these merchants, whose +meeting-place is surmounted by the proud symbol of Atlas carrying the +globe, offered that mansion as a residence to their kings, when Holland +and Amsterdam could no longer boast of supporting the world by their +wealth and their energy. + +Here they meet once a year--the stern, ancient city, represented by its +sturdy citizens, its fair women, its proud inhabitants, and Holland's +youthful Queen, blossoming forth as a symbol of new, fresh life, fresh +hope and promise. Here they meet, the sons and daughters of the men and +women who never gave way, who saw their immense riches accrue, as their +liberties grew, by sheer force of will, by inflexible determination, by +dauntless power of purpose; here they meet, the last descendant of the +famous House of Orange-Nassau, the queenly bride, whose forefathers were +well entitled to let their proud war-cry resound on the battlefields of +Europe: 'À moi, généreux sang de Nassau!' + +When the Queen is in Amsterdam the citizens go out to the 'Dam,' the +Square where the palace stands, offering their homage by cheers and +waving of hats, and by singing the war-psalm of the old warriors of +William the Silent, 'Wilhelmus van Nassouwe.' Then the leaders of +Amsterdam, its merchants, scientists, and artists, leave their beautiful +homes on Heeren-and Keizers-gracht, with their wives and daughters +wrapped in costly garments, glittering in profusion of diamonds and +rubies and pearls, and drive to the huge palace to offer homage to their +Queen, just as proud as she, just as patriotic as she, just as faithful +and loyal as she. + +Three hundred years have done their incessant work in welding the House of +Orange and Amsterdam together; ruptures and quarrels have occurred; yet, +after every struggle, both found out that they could not well do without +each other; and now when the Queen and the city meet, mutual respect, +mutual confidence, and reciprocal affection attest the firm bond which +unites them. + +To the Amsterdam patriciate the yearly visit of the Queen is a social +function full of interest. To the Queen it is more than that; she visits +not only the patricians, she also visits the people, the poor and the +toilers. Of course Amsterdam has its Socialists, and a good many of them, +too, and Socialists are not only fiery but also vociferous republicans as +a rule, who believe that royalty and a queen are a blot upon modern +civilization. But their sentiments, however well uttered, are not popular. +For when 'Our Child,' as the Queen is still frequently called, drives +through the workmen's quarter of Amsterdam, the 'Jordaan' (a corruption of +the French _jardin_), the bunting is plentiful, the cheering and singing +are more so, and the general enthusiasm surpasses both. The 'man in the +street,' that remarkable political genius of the present age, has scarcely +ever wavered in his simple affection for his Prince and Princess of +Orange; and though this affection is personal, not political--for nothing +is political to 'the man in the street'--there it is none the less, and it +does not give way to either reasoning or prejudice. + +Such is the external side of Court life. Internally it strikes one as +simple and unaffected. Queen Emma was a lady possessing high +qualifications as a mother and as a ruler. She grasped with undeniable +shrewdness the popular taste and fancy, she had no difficulty in realizing +that her rather easy-going, sometimes blustering, Consort could have +retained a great deal more of his popularity by very simple means, if he +had cared to do so. She did care, so she allowed her little girl to be a +little girl, and she let the people notice it. She went about with her, +all through the country, and the people beheld not two proud princesses, +strutting about in high and mighty manner, but a gracions, kind lady and +an unaffected child. This child showed a genuine interest in sport in +Friesland, in excavations in Maastricht, in ships and quays and docks in +Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and in hospitals and orphanages everywhere. +Anecdotes came into existence--the little Queen had been seen at +'hop-scotch,' had refused to go to bed early, had annoyed her governess, +had been skating, had been snow balling her royal mother, etc. And later, +when she was driving or riding, when she attended State functions or paid +official visits, there was always a simplicity in her turn out, a quiet +dignity in her demeanour, which proved that she felt no particular desire +to advertise herself as one of the wealthiest sovereigns of the world by +the mere splendour of her surroundings. + +This supreme tact of Queen Emma resulted in her daughter being educated +as a queen, as the Dutch like their sovereigns. Court life in The Hague +or at the Loo certainly lacks neither dignity nor brilliancy, but it +lacks showiness, and many an English nobleman lives in a grander style +than Holland's Queen. Now, education may bend, but it does not alter a +charactcr, and whatever qualifies may have adorned or otherwise +influenced the late King, he was no more a stickler for etiquette or a +lover of display than Queen Emma has proved to be. So there is a +probability that their daughter will also be satisfied with very limited +show, and if Prince Henry be wise, he will not interfere with the Queen's +inclinations. He is said to be 'horsy,' but the same may be said of her, +though as yet her 'horsiness' has not become an absorbing passion, nor +is it likely to be. + +It is said also that she abhors music; but as long as she, as Queen, does +not transfer her abhorrence from the art to the artists, no harm will be +done. The facts are that, simple as her tastes are, she does not impose +her simplicity upon others. When she presides at State dinners or at Court +dinners, she is entirely the _grande dame_, but when she is allowed to be +wholly herself, in a small, quiet circle, she is praised by every one, low +or high, who has been favoured with an invitation to the royal table, for +her natural and unaffected manners, her urbanity, and her gentle courtesy. + + + + +Chapter III + +The Professional Classes + + + +The professional classes of Holland show their characteristics best in the +social circle in which they move and find their most congenial +companionships. Imagine, then, that we are the guests of the charming wife +of a successful counsel ('advocaat en procureur')--Mr. Walraven, let us +call him--settled in a large and prosperous provincial town. She is a +typical Dutch lady, with bright complexion, kind, clear blue eyes, rather +dark eyebrows, which give a piquant air to the white and pink of the face, +and a mass of fair golden hair, simply but tastefully arranged, leaving +the ears free, and adorning but not hiding the comely shape of the head. +She wears a dark-brown silk dress, covered with fine Brussels lace around +the neck, at the wrists, along the bodice, and here and there on the +skirt. A few rings glitter on her fingers, and her hands are constantly +busy with a piece of point lace embroidery; for many Dutch ladies cannot +stand an evening without the companionship of a 'handwerkje,' as +fancy-needlework is called. It does not in the least interfere with their +conversational duties. She is rather tall. Dutch men and women seem to +have all sizes equally distributed amongst them; it cannot be said that +they are a short people, like the French and the Belgians, nor can the +indication of middle size be so rightly applied to them as to their +German neighbours, whereas the taller Anglo-Saxons can frequently find +their match in the Netherlands. + +The room in which we are seated is furnished in so-called 'old Dutch +style.' My friend and his wife have collected fine old wainscots, +sideboards and cupboards of richly carved oak in Friesland and in the +Flemish parts of Belgium. Their tables and chairs are all of the same +material and artistically cut. A very dark, greenish-grey paper covers the +walls; the curtains, the carpet, and the doors are in the same slightly +sombre shades. Venetian mirrors, Delft, Chinese and Rouen china plates, +arranged along the walls, over the carved oak bench, and on the +over-mantel, make delightful patches of bright colour in the room, and the +easy-chairs are as stylish as they are comfortable. + +Our visit has fallen in the late autumn, and the gas burns bnghtly in the +bronze chandelier, while the fire in the old-fashioned circulating stove, +a rare specimen of ancient Flemish design, makes the room look cosy and +hospitable. For the moment our friend the lawyer is absent. He has been +called away to his study, for a client has come to see him on urgent +business, and we are left in the gracious society of his wife in the +comfortable sitting-room. On the table the Japan tray, with its silver +teapot, sugar-basin, milk-jug and spoon-box of mother-of-pearl and +crystal, and its dark-blue real China cups and saucers, enjoys the company +of two silver boxes, on silver trays, full of all sorts of 'koekjes' +(sweet biscuits). Many Dutch families like to take a 'koekje' with their +tea, tea-time falling in Holland between 7 and 8 o'clock, half-way between +dinner at 5 or 6 p.m. and supper at 10 or 11 p.m. A cigar-stand is not +wanting, nor yet dainty ash-trays; while by the side of our hostess is an +old-fashioned brass 'komfoor,' or chafer,[Footnote: _Komfoor_ (or +_kaffoor_) and _chafer_ are etymologically the same word, derived from the +Latin _califacere_. The French member of the family is _chauffoir_.] on a +high foot, so that within easy reach of the lady's hand is the handle of +the brass kettle, in which the 'theewater' is boiling. + +Conversation turns from politics and literature to the ball to which my +hostess, her husband, and we as their guests have been invited at a +friend's house. She intends to go earlier; he and we are to follow later +in the evening, for that evening his 'Krans' is to meet at his house, and +it will keep us till eleven o'clock. A 'Krans' is simply a small company +of very good friends who meet, as a rule, once a month, at the house of +one of them, and at such meetings converse about things in general. The +English word for 'Krans' is 'wreath,' and the name indicates the intimate +and thoroughly friendly relations existing between the composing members. +They are twisted and twined together not merely by affectionate feeling, +but also by equality of social position, education, and intelligence. + +Our friend's little circle numbers seven, and as every one of them happens +to be the leading man in his profession in that town, and in consequence +wields a powerful influence, their 'Krans' is generally nicknamed the +'Heptarchy.' Our friend the lawyer is not only a popular legal adviser, +but as 'Wethouder' (alderman) for finance and public works he is the +much-admired originator of the rejuvenated town. The place had been +fortified in former days, but after the home defence of Holland was +re-organized and a System of defence on a coherent and logically +conceived basis accepted, all fortified towns disappeared and became open +cities, of which this was one. The public-spirited lawyer grasped the +situation at once, and, spurred by his influence and enthusiasm, the Town +Council adopted a large scheme of streets, roads, parks, and squares, so +that when all was completed the inhabitants of the old city scarcely knew +where they were. Besides this, he is legal adviser of the local branch of +the Netherlands Bank, a director on the boards of various limited +companies, and the president-director of a prosperous Savings Bank. +Nevertheless, he finds time in his crowded life to read a great deal, to +see his friends occasionally, and to keep up an incessant courtship of his +handsome wife, who in return asseverates that he is the most sociable +husband in the world. + +After Walraven has returned to the tea table, his admiring consort leaves +us, and shortly afterwards his best friend, within and without the +'Krans,' Dr. Klaassen, appears on the scene. He and Dr. Klaassen were +students at the same University, and nothing is better fitted to form +lifelong friendship than the freedom of Holland's University life and +University education. Dr. Klaassen is one of the most attractive types of +the Dutch medical man. His University examinations did not tie him too +tightly to his special science. Like ail Dutch students, he mixed freely +with future lawyers, clergymen, philosophers, and philologists, and it is +often said that while the University teaches young men chiefly sound +methods of work, students in Holland acquire quite as much instruction +from each other as from their professors. Doctor Klaassen left the +University as fresh as when he entered it, and ready to take a +healthvariousest in all departments of human affairs. He is a man to whom +the Homeric phrase might well be applied--'A physician is a man knowing +more than many others.' + +His non-professional work takes him to the boards and comrmttees of +societies promoting charity, ethics, religion, literature, and the fine +arts. The local branch of the famous 'Maatschappÿ tot Nut van 't Algemeen' +(the 'Society for promoting the Common-weal') and its various +institutions, schools, libraries, etc., find in him one of their most +energetic and faithful directors; a local hospital admitting people of all +religions denominations has grown up by his untiring energy; and he +prepared the basis upon which younger men afterwards built what is now a +model institution in Holland; nor does he forget the poor and the orphans, +to whom he gives quite half his time, though how much of his money he +gives them nobody knows, least of all he himself. + +The Reverend Mr. Barendsen, the third arrival, is a very different person. +His sermons are eloquent; he is a fluent speaker--too fluent, some say, +for words and phrases come so easily to him that the lack of thought is +not always felt by this preacher, although noticed by his flock. Now, a +sermon for Dutch Protestants is a difficult thing; it has to be long +enough to fill nearly a whole service of about two hours; and it is +listened to by educated and uneducated people, who all expect to be +edified. Dominee Barendsen, like so many of his colleagues, tries to meet +this difficulty by giving light nourishment in an attractive form. But if +his sermons do not succeed as well as his kind intentions deserve, his +influence is firmly established by his sympathetic personality. He may be +much more superficial than his two friends; he may be less dogged, less +tenacious than they; yet his fertile brain, his quick intelligence, and +his serious character have won for him a unique position, and his public +influence is very great. Both doctor and parson meet and mix in the best +society of the town, but the slums of the poor are also equally well known +to them; neither is a member of the Town Council, but the same +institutions have their common support. Livings in Holland are not +over-luxurious; and the consequence is that many 'Dominees' go out +lecturing, or make an additional income by translating or writing books. +Some of Holland's best and most successful authors and poets are, or were, +clergymen, such as Allard Pierson, P. A. de Génestet, Nicolaas Beets +(Hildebrand), Coenraad Busken Huet, J. J. L. ten Kate, Dr. Jan ten Brink, +Bernard ter Haar, etc. Dominee Barendsen is likewise well known in Dutch +literary circles. + +General Hendriks is the next to be announced. Dutch officers do not like +to go about in their uniform, but the gallant general is also expected at +the ball, and so he has donned his military garments. He is a 'Genist,' a +Royal Engineer, and had his education at the Royal Military Academy at +Breda. This means that he is no swashbuckler, but a genial, well-mannered, +open-minded and well-read gentleman, with a somewhat scientific turn of +mind and a rare freedom from military prejudice. Hollanders are not a +military people in the German sense, and fire-eaters and military fanatics +are rare, but they are rarest amongst the officers of the General Staff, +the Royal Engineers, and the Artillery. + +General Hendriks married a lady of title with a large fortune, so his +position is a very pleasant one. His friendship for the other +'Heptarchists' is necessarily of recent date, for he has been abroad a +great deal, and was five years in the Dutch East Indies fighting in the +endless war against Atchin. His stay there has widened his views still +more, and when he tells of his experiences he is at once interesting and +attractive, for he is well-informed and a charming _raconteur_. His rank +causes Society to impose on him duties which he is inclined to consider as +annoying, but he fulfils them graciously enough. He is a popular +president-director of the "Groote Societeit" (the Great Club), and of +Caecilia, the most prominent society for vocal and instrumental music; and +whenever races, competitions, exhibitions, bazaars, and similar social +functions, to which the Dutch are greatly addicted, take place, General +Hendriks is sure to be one of the honorary presidents, or at least a +member of the working board, and his urbanity and affability are certain +to ensure success. He has been a member of the States-General, and is said +to be a probable future Minister of War. But the weak spot in his heart is +for poetry and for literature generally; the number of poems he knows by +heart is marvellous, and at the meetings of the Heptarchy he freely +indulges his love of quotations, a pleasure he strictly denies himself in +other surroundings, for fear of boring people. But everybody has a dim +presumption that the general knows a good deal more than most people are +aware of, and this dim presumption is strengthened by the very firm +conviction that he is an exceedingly genial man and a 'jolly good fellow.' + +Mr. Ariens, Lit.D., 'Rector of the Gymnasium (equivalent to Head-master of +a Grammar School), is the most remarkable type even in this very +remarkable set of men. He is highly unconventional, and his boys adore +him, while his old boys admire him, and the parents are his perennial +debtors in gratitude. He is unconventional in everything, in his dress, in +his way of living, in his opinions and judgments, but he parades none of +these, reducing them to neither a whim nor a hobby. He passed some years +in the Dutch Indies, travelled all over Europe, knows more of Greek, +Latin, and antiquities than anybody else, and is as thoroughly scientific +as any University professer. But the Government will never give him a +vacant chair, for his pedagogical powers surpass even his scientific +abilities, and they cannot spare such men in such places. To some +aristocratic people his noble simple-mindedness is downright appalling; +but when he goes about in dull, cold, wintry weather and visits the poor +wretches in the slums, where nature and natural emotions and forms of +speech are quite unconventional, he is duly appreciated. For he is not +only a splendid 'gymnasii rector,' he is also a very charitable man, +though he likes only one form of charity, that by which the rich man first +educates himself into being the poor man's friend, and then only offers +his sympathy and help, the charity which the one can give and the other +take without either of them feeling degraded by the act. He is not a +public-body man, our 'Rector,' but his friends appreciate his keen, just +judgment. They may disagree with him on some points, but a discussion with +him is always interesting on account of his original, fresh method of +thought, and instructive by reason of his very superior and universal +knowledge. + +His best friend is Mr. Jacobs, a civil engineer. Dutch civil engineers are +educated at Delft, at the Polytechnic School, after having passed their +final examination at a 'Higher Burgher School.' Boys of sixteen or +seventeen are not fit to digest sciences by the dozen, and, however +pleasant and convenient it may be to become a walking cyclopedia, a +cyclopedia is not a living book, but a dead accumulation of dead +knowledge, which may inform though it does not educate. Happily, the +majority of Dutch engineers are saved by the Polytechnic School, where +they have about the same liberty as undergraduates at the Universities to +go their own way. Educationally they are not so well equipped, attention +only being paid to mental instruction, for the Director of a 'Higher +Burgher School' is a different man from the Rector of a Gymnasium, while +the System over which he presides is more or less incoherent so far as +educational considerations go. + +But if a civil engineer is a success he is generally a big one. So is Mr. +Jacobs. He is thoroughly well read, though his reading may be somewhat +desultory. His splendid memory, assisted by a remarkably quick wit, allows +him to feel interested in nearly everything--sociology, literature, art, +music, theatre, sport, charity, municipal enterprise. If he is +superficial, nobody notices it, for he is much too smart to show it. His +general level-headedness makes him an inexhaustible source of admiration +to Dr. Ariens, whose peer he is in kindness of heart. His manner is +irreproachable; he never loses his temper in discussion, and treats his +opponents in such a quiet, courteous way that they are obviously sorry to +disagree with him. His business capacities are of the first rank; he makes +as much money as he likes, and however crowded his life may be, he always +finds time for more work. He is a member of the Town Council and a staunch +supporter of Walraven's progressive plans. Walraven has certain misgivings +about Jacobs' thoroughness, but he fully realizes his friend's quick grasp +of things. He may build bridges, irrigate whole districts, and drain +marshes in Holland, open up mines in Spain, build docks in America, or +hunt for petroleum in Russia; he is always sure to succeed, and a fair +profit for himself, at any rate, is the invariable result of his +exertions. He travels a great deal, knows everybody everywhere, and always +turns up again in the old haunts, bristling with interesting information, +visibly enjoying his busy, full life, and not without a certain vanity, +arising from the feeling that his fellow-citizens are rather proud of him. + +The last to come is Mr. Smits, President of the Court of Justice, a man of +philosophical turn of mind, an ardent student of social problems, a fine +lawyer, a first-rate speaker, a shrewd judge of men, and a tolerant and +mild critic of their weaknesses. He also is a member of the Town Council, +and, like Jacobs, a member of a municipal committee of which Walraven is +the chairman. Their duties are the supervision and general management of +the communal trade and industry, such as tramways, gas-works, +water-supply, slaughter-houses, electrical supply, corn exchange, public +parks and public gardens, hothouses and plantations, etc. Smits is also +the chairman of two debating societies, one for workmen and the other for +the better educated classes; but social problems are the chief topics +discussed at both. These societies, he says, keep him well in touch with +the general drift of the popular mind; as a fact, by his encouraging ways, +he draws from the people what is in their thoughts and hearts, and very +often succeeds in correcting wrong impressions and conceptions. He is also +the Worshipful Master of the local Masonic lodge, 'The Three Rings,' so +called after the famous parable of religions tolerance in Lessing's noble +drama, _Nathan der Weise_. Dutch Freemasonry is not churchy as in England; +it is charitable, teaches ethics as distinct from, but not opposed to, +religion, admits men of all creeds and of no creed whatever, and preaches +tolerance all round; but it fights indifferentism, apathy, or carelessness +on all matters affecting the material, intellectual, and psychical +well-being of mankind. + +Smits feels very strongly on all these matters, and his enthusiasm is of +a staying kind; but the ancient device 'Suaviter in modo' has quite as +much charm for him as its counterpart, 'Fortiter in re.' The consequence +is that superficial people take him for a Socialist because he neither +prosecutes nor persecutes Socialists for the opinions they hold. Himself +an agnostic, and lacking religions sentiment, he realises so well the +supreme influence of religion on numberless people and the comfort they +derive from it, that many consider him not nearly firm enough in his +intercourse with Roman Catholics or 'orthodox' Protestants, with whom, in +fact, he frequently arranges political 'deals.' For Smits is, if not the +chairman, the most influential and active member of the Liberal caucus; +and, being in favour of proportional representation, he insists that the +other political parties shall have their fair number of Town Councillors. + +Such are the men who come together in this elegant and yet homely +sitting-room; each of them a leader in his profession, each of them coming +in daily and close contact with all sorts and conditions of men and women +in the town, and enabled by their wide and unbiassed views of humanity and +human affairaffairsntrol them and to divert the common energies in wise +paths. The 'Heptarchy' has, of course, no legal standing as such, but from +their conversations one understands the influence which its members wield +by their intellectual and moral superiority. They conspire in no way to +attain certain ends, but discuss things as intimately as only brothers or +man and wife can discuss them, in the genial intimacy of their unselfish +friendship. They generally agree on the lines to be taken in certain +matters, but even if they fail to agree, this does not prevent them from +acting according to their own rights, still respecting each other's +convictions and preferences. And not only local topics are discussed in +the meetings of the 'Heptarchy,' for politics, art, trade, and science, +foreign and Dutch, come within their scope; for their intellectual +outlook, like their sympathies, is universal. + +Towards eleven o'clock we take leave of each other. Walraven, Hendriks, +and ourselves go to the ball at the house of the 'Commissaris der +Koningin' (Queen's Commissioner), the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, Baron +Alma van Strae. Baron and Baroness Alma live in a palatial mansion, and we +find the huge reception and drawing rooms full of a gay crowd of young +folk. The rooms are beautifully decorated, there is a profusion of flowers +and palms in the halls and on the stairs; and a host of footmen in +bright-buttoned, buff-coloured livery coats, short trousers, and white +stockings, move quietly about, betraying the well-trained instincts of +hereditary lackeydom. There are county councillors, judges, officers of +army and navy, bankers, merchants, manufacturers, town councillors, the +mayor and town clerk, the president and some members of the Chamber of +Commerce, and committee-men of orphanages and homes for old people. All +have brought their wives, daughters, and sons to do the dancing, for +though they occasionally join themselves, they prefer to indulge in a +quiet game of whist or to settle down in Baron Alma's smoking and billiard +room for a cigar. + +These social fonctions, however, are much the same in Holland as in other +countries. Etiquette may differ in small details, but on the whole the +world of society lives the same life, cultivates the same interests, and +amuses or bores itself in much the same fashion. It is _tout comme chez +nous_ in this as in nearly everything else. + +On the whole, this elegant crowd shows a somewhat greater amount of +deference towards professionals than towards officials. Doctors, lawyers, +and parsons are clearly highly esteemed; it is the victory of intellect in +a fair field of encounter. In The Hague the officials beat them, but not +so much on account of their office as in consrquence of the fact that so +many are titled persons, highly connected and frequently well off. But +after the great Revolution and the Napoleonic times officialdom lost its +influence and social importance in Holland in consequence of the +demolition of the oligarchic, patrician Republic; and clause five of the +Netherlands constitution, which declares that 'Every Netherlander may be +appointed to every public office,' is a very real and true description of +the actual, visible facts of social life. + + + + +Chapter IV + +The Position of Women + + + +The Dutch woman, generally speaking, is not the 'new woman' in the sense +of taking any very definite part in the politics of the country. Neither +does she interest herself, or interfere, in ecclesiastical matters. +Dutchmen have not a very high opinion of the mental and administrative +qualities of their womenfolk outside of what is considered their sphere, +but for all that the women of the upper class are certainly more clever +than the men, but as they do not take any practical part in the questions +which are 'burning,' as far as any question does burn in this land of +dampness, their interest is academic rather than real. The wives of the +small shopkeeper, the artisan, and the peasant take much the same place as +women of these classes in other European countries. They are kind mothers, +thrifty housewives, very fond of their 'man,' not averse to the +fascinations of dress, and in their persons and houses extremely trim and +tidy, while the poorest quarters of the large towns are, compared with the +slums of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, pictures of neatness. It is +true that windows are seldom opened, for no Dutch window opens at the top, +and so in passing by an open door in the poor quarters of a town one gets +a whiff of an inside atmosphere which baffles description; but the inside +of the house is 'tidy,' and one can see the gleam of polished things, +telling of repeated rubbings, scrubbings, and scourings. In fact, +cleanliness in Holland has become almost a disease, and scrubbing and +banging go on from morning until night both outside and inside a house. + +Probably the abundant supply of water accounts for the universal washing, +for, not content with washing everything inside a house, they wash the +outside too, and even the bark of any trees which happen to lie within the +zone of operations. The plinths and bricks of the houses are scrubbed as +far as the arms can reach or a little hand-squirt can carry water. In +cottages both in town and country there is the same cleanliness, but the +people stop short of washing themselves, and the bath among the poorer +classes is practically unknown. People of this kind may not have had one +for thirty or forty years, and will receive the idea with derision and +look on the practice as a 'fad,' while the case of many animals is +seriously cited as an argument that it is quite unnecessary. A doctor told +me once of a rich old patient of the farming class near Utrecht who, on +being ordered a bath, said, 'Any amount of physic, but a bath--never!' On +the principle that you cannot do everything, personal cleanliness is apt +to go to the wall, and the energies of the Dutchwomen of the lower middle +and the poorer classes are concentrated on washing everything _inanimate,_ +even the brick footpath before the houses, which accounts for the clean +appearance of the Dutch streets in town and country. Even a heavy downpour +of rain does not interfere with the housewife's or servant's weekly +practice, and you will see servants holding up umbrellas while they wash +the fronts of the houses. This excessive cleanliness, together with the +other household duties of mother and wife, fills up the ordinary day, and +a newspaper or book is seldom seen in their hands. + +Passing on to the middle class, we find the mistress's time largely taken +up with directing the servants and bargaining with the tradesmen, who in +many cases bring their goods round from house to house. The lady of the +house takes care to lock up everything after the supplies for the day have +been given out, and the little basket full of keys which she carries about +with her is a study in itself. Even in the upper class this locking up is +a general practice, for very few people keep a housekeeper. The mistress +also takes care of the 'pot.' This is an ingenious but objectionable +device to make a guest pay for his dinner. On leaving a house after dining +you give one of the servants a florin, and all the money so collected is +put into a box, and at certain times is divided between the servants, so +that a servant on applying for a situation asks what is the value of the +'pot' in the year. There are signs of this practice of feeing servants +after a dinner being done away with, for it spoils the idea of +hospitality, and one's host on bidding you 'Good-bye' resorts to many +little artifices in order not to see that you do fee his servant, added to +which you are very likely to shake hands with him with the florin in your +hand, which you have been furtively trying to transfer to the left hand +from the right, and very often the guest drops the wretched coin in his +efforts to give it unseen. It is to be hoped that the ladies of Holland +will succeed in abolishing a custom which is disagreeable alike to +entertainer and entertained. + +The women of the upper middle class are certainly much better educated +than their English sisters. They always can speak another language than +their own, and very often two, French and English now being common, while +a few add German and a little Italian, but most of them read German, if +they do not speak it. French is universal, however, for the French novel +is far more to the taste than the more sober English book. The number and +quality of these French books read by the Dutch young lady are enough to +astonish and probably shock an English girl, who reads often with +difficulty the safe 'Daudet' ('Sapho' excepted), but the young Dutchwoman +knows of no _Index Expurgatorius,_ and reads what she likes. At the same +time the classics of England and Germany are very generally read and +valued, and many a Dutchwoman could pass a better examination on the text +and meaning of Shakespeare than the English-woman, whose knowledge is too +often limited to memories of the Cambridge texts of the great poets used +in schools. + +But, well educated as the Dutchwoman undoubtedly is, there is nothing +about her of the 'blue-stocking,' and she does not impress you as being +clever until a long acquaintance has brought out her many-sided knowledge. +The great pity is that her education leads to so little, for there are +very few channels into which a Dutchwoman can direct her knowledge. +Politics turn for the most part on differences in religions questions, +which are abstruse and dry to the feminine mind, and of practical +political life she sees nothing. There is no 'terrace,' no Primrose +League, no canvassing, no political _salon_, no excitement about +elections; and added to these negatives, women get snubbed if they venture +opinions on political matters, and young people generally look upon +politics _et hoc genus omne_ as a bore, and the names of the great +statesmen at the helm of affairs are frequently not even known by the +younger generation. Little interest is also taken in the army and navy, +owing to the fact that there is so little active service in the former and +to the smallness of the latter; and woman does not care much about +orders, regulations, manoeuvres and comparative strengths--she wants +'heroes,' and to know what they have done, and does not consider what the +'services' might, could, or should do. The officers who have served in +India and have seen active service rank high in her estimation, but as +these are few, beyond the affection bestowed upon soldier husband, +brother, or lover, which is chiefly displayed in anxiety lest they should +be sent to do garrison duty in some town where social advantages are small +or _nil_, there is no great interest taken in army affairs by the +Dutchwoman. As to the navy, they philosophically acquiesce in the fact +that as a ship must sail on the water they must patiently bear the +necessary separation from their sailor friends. + +When we come to things ecclesiastical there is still less interest taken +in the Church. The Roman Catholic Church is outside the question, for the +position of the laity there has been well described as 'kneeling in front +of the altar, sitting under the pulpit, and putting one's hand in one's +pocket without demur when money is required.' The Protestant laity, +however, do not take any great interest in the National Church, and while +there are deaconesses devoted to nursing and all good works, as there are +_soeurs de charité_ in the Roman communion, yet the rank and file of +Dutchwomen do not trouble about their church beyond attending it +occasionally--one may say, very occasionally. There is but little +brightness in the services of the Reformed Church, no ritual, no scope for +artistic work, no curates, and above and beyond ail, no career in the +Church for the clergy. At the best they may get sent to one of the large +towns, but the life is the same as in the village for the wife of the +'domine,' as the Dutch pastor is called. And if the domines move about in +fear and trembling because of the argus-eyes and often Midas-like ears of +the deacons, their wives must be still more discreet. One 'domine' has +been known to brave public opinion and ride a bicycle, but for a mother in +Israel to do the like would scandalize all good members of the Reformed +Church. The wives of the clergy, however, do good and useful work, and +probably are more real helpmeets to their husbands than women in any other +class of what may be called official life, but they take no sort of lead +in parochial or ecclesiastical matters. They do not direct the feminine +influences which do work in the parish, but rather take their place as one +of them. If, therefore, a woman marries a clergyman, she does so for love +of the man and his work's sake; there cannot be a tinge of ambition as to +the career of her husband, for there are no such things as comfortable +rectories and prospective deaneries or bishoprics, with their consequent +influence and power. Nothing but love of the man brings the 'domine' a +wife, and she knows that there will be inquisitorial eyes and not too kind +speeches about her behaviour from the 'faithful,' while the great people, +to their loss, will ignore her socially in much the same way as Queen +Elizabeth did the wives of the bishops in her day. + +Passing to lighter subjects, Dutch girls are now breaking loose from the +stiffness and espionage in which their mothers were brought up, and this +is without doubt in a large measure due to the introduction of sport. +Tennis, hockey, golf, and more especially bicycling have conferred, by +the force of circumstances, a freedom which strength of argument, +entreaty, and tears failed to effect. Mothers and and chaperons do not, +as a rule, bicycle, and play tennis and golf; they cannot always go to +club meetings, even to yawn through the sets, and so the young people +play by themselves, and there are fast growing a lack of restraint and a +healthy freedom of intercourse which are gravely deprecated by +grand-mammas, winked at by mothers, but enjoyed to the full by daughters. +But quidnuncs prophesy, however, that people will not marry as early as +of yore, for young people get to know one another too well by +unrestricted intercourse, and the halo with which each sex surrounds the +other is dispelled. Be this as it may, no Dutch girl wishes to go back to +the old days when she could go nowhere alone. + +Yet, however much men like to have women as companions in games, they are +not so willing to allow them much to say in matters which the masculine +mind considers its own province; for the fact is that most Dutchmen +consider women inferiors, and when there is a question of admittance into +literary or artistic circles and clubs, women's work has to be of an +undeniably high order. There are one or two ladies' clubs, but they do not +at present flourish, there being so few public platforms on which women +can meet, and so the 'social grade' determines women's relative position +by women's votes, and there is small chance of crossing the Rubicon then. +There is no doubt, however, that women in Holland are slowly winning their +way to greater independence of life. They are filling posts in public +offices; they are going to the universities; they are studying medicine +and qualifying as doctors; and no doubt they will in time compel men to +acknowledge their claims to live an independent life rather than a +dependent one. Besides, in Holland, as in other countries, the proportion +between the sexes is unequal, and so necessity will force open doors of +usefulness hitherto closed to women. + +The Dutchwoman dresses expensively in all the towns, and generally well. +The toilettes are mostly of a German model, which suits the build of the +Dutchwoman better than the fashions of Paris. Rarely, however, do women +dress in that simple style in vogue in English morning dress, and a Dutch +town or seaside resort is filled in the mornings with gay toilettes more +fitted for the Row or the Boulevard. Even when bicycling the majority do +not dress very simply. + +[Illustration: Dutch Fisher-Girls.] + +[Illustration: A Bridal Pair Driving Home.] + +Holland has always been noted for the variety and quaintness of its +provincial and even communal costumes, and these may all still be seen, +though they are dying out slowly. In some, and in fact many cases, a +modern bonnet is worn over a beautiful gold or silver headpiece, fringed +with lace, but ancient and modern do not in such cases harmonize. Of the +distinctly provincial costumes, that of Friesland is generally considered +the prettiest, but as illustrations are given of them all in a later +chapter, it must be left to the reader to decide the point for himself. +The fisherfolk more than any other retain their distinctive dress, +although even among them some of the children are habited according to +modern ideas, and certainly when the women are doomed to wear fourteen or +sixteen skirts, which have the effect of making them liable to pulmonary +complaints, it is surprising that modern fashions are not more generally +adopted. The plea for modernity in respect of Dutch national costumes is +considered rank heresy among artists, but the figures look better in a +picture and at a distance than in everyday life, added to which the custom +of cutting off or hiding the hair, which some of the head-dresses compel, +is not one to be encouraged; and it is a wonder that woman, who knows as a +rule her charms, has for so long consented to be deprived of one of the +chief ones. But in Holland, as in all countries where education is +spreading, cosmopolitanism in dress is increasing, and the picturesque +tends to give place to the convenient and in many cases the healthy. + +Marriage with all its preliminaries is woman's triumph, and in Holland she +makes the most of it. The manner of seeking a wife and proposing is no +doubt the same in the Netherlands as in other European countries, with the +exception of France; but once accepted, the happy man must resign himself +to the accustomed routine. First of all he exchanges rings, so that a man +who is engaged or married betrays the fact as well as a woman by a plain +gold ring worn on the third finger. A girl, therefore, has a better chance +against those who were 'deceivers ever' than in a country where no such +outward and visible sign exists. The engagement is announced by cards +being sent out, counter-signed by the parents on both sides, and a day is +fixed for receiving the congratulations. The betrothed are then considered +almost married. Engagements are, of course, frequently broken off, but +such a thing as an action for 'breach of promise' is impossible, and would +be considered most mercenary and mean. As a rule, engagements are not +long, and as soon as the wedding-day is agreed upon, the preceding +fortnight is filled with parties of various kinds, while there is another +great reception just before the wedding day, in which, as before, the +bride and bridegroom have to stand for hours receiving the congratulations +of their friends. Every now and then they will snatch a chance to sit +down, but another arrival brings them again to their feet, weary but +smiling. On the wedding morning the happy couple drive to the Town Hall; +for all marriages must first be celebrated by the civil authorities, and +so they appear before the Burgomaster, who says something appropriate, and +they make their vows and sign the papers, after which, if they desire it, +there is a service at the church which is called a 'Benediction,' at which +they are blessed, and have to listen to a long sermon, at the close of +which a Bible is given them. This sermon is not the least of the trying +experiences, for frequently many of the older members of the party are +reduced to tears by allusions to former members of the two families, and +all sorts of subjects alien to the particular service are introduced. At a +recent wedding known to me, the guests had to listen to a long address in +which the Transvaal War and the Paris Exhibition were commented upon. Not +only so, but no fewer than three collections are taken at the service, so +that people who desire to enter into the holy estate of matrimony must not +lack fortitude when they have made up their minds to it. + +But once married, a Dutch home is indeed 'Home, sweet home,' as is the +case more or less in all the northern countries, where the changeful +climate compels people to live a great deal within four walls. Dutch +fathers are kind, and the mothers are indulgent, and among the poorer +classes especially family affection is very great. Most beautiful and +touching instances might be abundantly quoted of family devotion, and a +society like that for the 'prevention of cruelty to children' would find +little to do in Holland. + + + + +Chapter V + +The Workman of the Towns + + + +The condition of the Dutch urban working classes is by no means an +enviable one. Granting that wages are much higher than half a century ago, +when bread cost fivepence-halfpenny the loaf as against three halfpence +to-day, and when clothes and furniture cost fifty per cent. more than now, +the average working-man cannot be otherwise described than as distinctly +poor when compared with his English colleague. Yet it would be misleading +to judge exclusively by the scale of wages, and against making comparisons +of the kind the reader should at once be warned. The fact is that there +are very wide divergences of condition amongst the working classes of +Holland. A carpenter or a blacksmith earning from £1 to £1 10s. in weekly +wages all the year round will rank, if sober and well-behaved, as a +comparatively well-to-do workman. On the other hand, a bricklayer or a +painter, whose work in winter is very uncertain, and who earns, maybe, a +bare £1 a week during the nine months of the year wherein he can find +work, is a poor workman at the best, and his condition is greatly to be +deplored. More pitiable still, however, is the case of working-class +families in some of the manufacturing towns, where wages are still lower, +and where an even tolerable standard of life cannot be maintained unless +mother and children take their place in the factory side by side with the +head of the household as regular wage-earners. + +For, as labour is cheap and families are numerous in Holland, as soon as +the boys and girls have reached the sacramental age of twelve, at which +Dutch law allows them to work twelve hours a day, they leave school, and +enter the factory and workshop. + +It is no joke for these children, who have to leave their little beds, +frequently under the tiles, at 5 or 6 a.m., or earlier, summer and winter, +to gulp down some hot coffee, or what is conveniently called so, to +swallow a huge piece of the well-known Dutch 'Roggebrood,' or rye-bread, +and then to hurry, in their wooden shoes, through the quiet streets of the +town to their place of work. + +Sometimes they have time to return home at 8 or 8.30 a.m. for a second +hurried 'breakfast,' which as often as not is their first, for many of +them start the day's work on an empty stomach. Those who cannot run home +and back in the half-hour usually allowed for the first 'Schaft,' or +meal-time, take their bread-and-butter with them in a cotton or linen bag, +and their milk-and-water or coffee in a tin, and so shift as well as they +can. Dinner-time, as a rule, finds the whole family united from about +twelve until one o'clock or half-past in the kitchen at home. This kitchen +is, of course, used for cooking, washing, dwelling, and sleeping purposes. +The walls are whitewashed, and the floor consists of flag-stones. Of +luxury there is none, of comfort little. Generally the fare of the day is +potatoes, with some vegetable, carrots, turnips, cabbage, or beans. A +piece of bacon, rarely some beef, is sometimes added; while mutton is +hardly ever eaten in Holland, unless by very poor people. Fish is too +expensive for most of them, except fried kippers or bloaters. If there is +time over, and the house has a little garden attached to it, the children +help by watering the vegetables growing there, should it be summer-time, +or by making themselves generally useful. But at 1 or 1.30 they have to be +back at the workshop, and until 7 p.m. the drudgery goes on again. On +Saturday evening the boy brings his sixpence, or whatever his trifling +wages may be, to his mother. Rent and the club-money for illness and +funeral expenses must be at hand when the collectors call either on Sunday +or Monday morning. As a rule, though the exceptions are numerous enough, +the father also brings his whole pay with him; but drink is the curse--a +decreasing curse, it may be, but still a curse--of many a workman's +family, and in such cases the inroads it makes in the domestic budget are +very serious. + +So the boys grow up, in a busy, monotonous life, until they are called +upon to subject themselves to compulsory military service. Before they +become recruits they have usually joined various societies--debating, +theatrical, social, political, or other. Arnold Toynbee has a good many +admirers and followers in Holland, who do yeoman's work after his spirit, +and bring bright, healthy pleasure into the lives of these youthful +toilers. Divines of all denominations, Protestant and Catholic, have also +their 'At homes' and their 'Congregations,' and innocent amusement is not +unseldom mixed with religious teaching at their meetings. In this way, +too, a helpful, restraining influence is exerted upon youth. And gradually +the boy becomes a young man, associating with other young men, and, like +his wealthier neighbours, discussing the world's affairs, dreaming of +drastic reforms, and thinking less and less of the dreary home, where +father and mother, grown old before their time, are little more than the +people with whom he boards, and who take the whole or part of his wages, +allowing him some modest pocket-money for himself. + +In the meantime his sisters have been living with some middle-class +family, starting as errand-girls, being afterwards promoted to the +important position of 'kindermeid' or children's maid, though all the time +sleeping out, which means that before and after having toiled a whole day +for strangers, they do part of the housework for their mothers at home. +After some time, however, they find employment as housemaids, or in other +domestic positions. If they have the good fortune to find considerate yet +strict and conscientious mistresses, the best time of their life now +begins; there is no exhaustion from work, yet good food, good lodging, and +kind treatment. Should they care to cultivate the fine art of cooking, +they get instruction in that line, and are in most cases allowed to work +independently, and even, when reliable and trustworthy, to do the buying +of vegetables, etc., by themselves in the market-places, which all Dutch +towns boast of, and in which the produce of the land is offered for sale +in abundance and appetizing freshness. All this tends to teach a +servant-girl how to use alike her eyes, hands, and brain, and to educate +her into a thrifty, industrious, and tidy workman's wife, who will know +how to make both ends meet, however short her resources may be. This is +one of the reasons why so many Dutch workmen's homes, notwithstanding the +low wages, have an appearance of snug prosperity--the women there have +learned how to make a little go a long way. + +And how about their future husbands? Have they, too, learned their trade? +Perhaps; if they are particularly strong, shrewd, industrious, and +persevering, though technical education ('ambachtsonderwys') is much a +thing of the future in Holland. + +In the general course of life a boy goes to a trade which offers him the +highest wages. If he can begin by earning eightpence a week, he will not +go elsewhere to earn sixpence if the wear and tear of shoes and clothes is +the same in both cases, although the sixpenny occupation may perhaps be +better suited to his tastes, ability, and general aptitude. To his mother +the extra two pence are a consideration; they may cover some weekly +contribution to a necessary fund. Running errands is his first work, until +accidentally some workman or some apprentice leaves the shop, in which +case he is moved up, and a new boy has the errands to do. But now he must +look out for himself; his master is not over-anxious to let him learn all +the ins and outs of the work, for as soon as his competitors hear that he +has a very clever boy in his shop, he is sure to lose that boy, who is +tempted away by the offer of better pay. Nor are the workmen greatly +inclined to impart their little secrets, to explain this thing and that, +and so help the young fellow on. Why should they? Nobody did it for them; +they got their qualifications by their own unaided exertions--let the boy +do the same. Moreover, the 'baas,' or chief, does not like them to 'waste +their time' in that manner, and the 'baas' is the dispenser of their +bread-and-butter; so the boy is, as a rule, regarded merely as a nuisance. + +There are workshops, first-class workshops, too, where no apprentices have +been admitted for dozens of years, simply because the employers do not see +their way to make an efficient agreement with the boys or their parents +which would prevent them from letting a competitor enjoy the results of +their technical instruction. One would not be astonished that in these +circumstances all over Holland the want of technical schools is badly +felt, and that agitation for their provision is active. Only some +twenty-four such schools exist at present; the oldest, that at Amsterdam, +dates from 1861, and the youngest, that of Nymegen, was established in +1900. Partly municipal schools, partly schools built by the private effort +of citizens, they all do their work well. It is only during the last few +years that the nation has begun to ask whether technical education ought +not to be taken up by the State. The Dutch like private enterprise in +everything, and are always inclined to prefer it to State or municipal +action; but they have come to recognize that technical schools may be good +schools, and may do good work on behalf of the much-needed improvement of +handicraft, even though not private ventures, and that so far this branch +of national education has not kept up with the times. + +The idea which will probably in the end gain the day, is that the +Technical Schools should be managed by the town councils and subsidized by +the State, who in return would receive the right of supervision and +inspection, and of laying down general rules for their curricula. For the +present, however, there is no law settling the question, and the +apprentices are the sufferers by the lack, since the employers shrink from +employing their means, time, and knowledge on behalf of unscrupulous +competitors. + +In general the life of an urban working-man is a constant struggle against +poverty and sickness. Children come plentifully, rather too much so for +the unelastic possibilities of their parents' wages. The young wife does +not get stronger by frequent confinements; and the fare is bound to get +less nourishing as the mouths round the domestic board increase--always +simple, it often becomes insufficient. The mother, working hard already, +has to work harder still and to do laundry work at home or go out as a +charwoman, in order to increase the modest income. In industrial centres +women frequently work in the factories as well, though the law does at +least protect them against too long hours and premature work after +confinement. + +Thanks to the Dutch thrift, burial funds and sickness funds come promptly +to the rescue when death lays his iron grip on the wasted form of the poor +town-bred babies, when illness saps the man's power to earn his usual +wages, and the family's income is for the time cut off. Of these benefit +funds there are about 450 in Holland, distributed amongst some 150 towns. +Half of them are burial funds, and half mixed burial and sickness funds; +their members number about two millions; yet, although they certainly do +much to prevent extreme poverty, they do it in a manner which in many +cases is little short of a scandal. Their legal status is rather +uncertain, and in consequence many managers do as they like, and make a +good thing for themselves out of their duty to the poor. Too often these +managers are supreme controllers of the funds, and the members have no +influence whatever. In many cases the only official the latter know is the +collector, who calls at their houses for the weekly contributions. This +official frequently resorts to questionable tricks for extorting money +from the poor helpless members, who simply and confidently pay what they +are told to pay--small sums, of course, a few cents or pence, it may be, +but still 'adding up' in the long run--and when sorrow and death enter +their humble dwellings they are easily imposed upon by cool scoundrels, +who trade on their disinclination to quarrel about money when there is a +corpse in the house. + +Another danger of the irregular condition of these funds lies in the fact +that outsiders may take out policies on the lives of certain families. A +few years ago the country was shocked by the alarming story of a woman who +had poisoned a series of persons merely to be able to get the funeral +expenses paid to herself, while many a wretched little baby has in this +manner been the horrible investment of heartless neighbours, who, knowing +the poor thing was dying, took out policies for its funeral. For medical +examination is not required for these beautifully managed associations. +Their premiums are, however, so high that this detail does not materially +affect their sound financial position; and this being the case, it cannot +be denied that the absence of such examinations considerably increases +their general utility for the labouring classes. + +[Illustration: A Dutch Street Scene.] + +The clubs for preventing financial loss by illness do require a medical +examination. They number in Holland nearly 700, distributed in over 300 +towns. Some allow a fixed sum of money during illness, others provide +doctor and medicines, others do both. But the same objections and +grievances which workmen entertain against burial funds apply likewise to +these latter clubs. The curious thing is that, instead of grumbling, the +workman does not make up his mind to mend matters by insisting on having a +share in the management of societies and funds to which he has contributed +so large a part of his earnings. As yet, however, the Dutch labouring +classes have not found the man who is able to organize them for this or +other purposes. They have able advocates, eloquent, passionate reformers, +straightforward, honest friends, but the work of these is more destructive +criticism than constructive organization. Where organization exists, it is +political, social, religious, but not industrial--local, but not +universal, and it often has the bitter suggestion of charity. On the other +hand, the poor fellows have so often been imposed upon that they feel very +little confidence in each other and in the wealthier classes who profess +deep interest in their woes and sorrows. There are no very large +industrial centres in Holland; the wages are so low that most workmen are +obliged to find supplementary incomes, either by doing overtime, or by +doing odd jobs after the regular day's work is over. Hence there is not +much time or energy left for the common cause. Some great employers, like +Mr. J.C. van Marken, of Delft, and Messrs. Stork Brothers, of Hengeloo, +have organizations of their own, by which important ameliorations are +obtained; but smaller employers hear the labour leaders constantly +deprecating such efforts and preaching the blessings of Social Democracy +as the true panacea, so they do not see why they should put themselves to +any inconvenience or expense for the sake of earning abuse and +ingratitude. + +Moreover, many of these employers adhere to the obsolete maxim of the +Manchester economists, that labour is merely a sort of merchandise, of +which the workman keeps a certain stock-in-trade, and that the +capitalist's simple task, as a man of business, is to buy that labour as +cheaply as possible, and that he has done with the seller as soon as his +stock-in-trade is exhausted. Happily, a good many others understand now +that in the long run this ridiculous theory is quite as bad for the State +as killing was for the fowl which laid the golden eggs. + +At all events, the feelings of the workman for his 'patroon,' as the old +name still in use calls the employer, are none of the kindest. Sweating is +a much less common occurrence in Holland than it was some twenty years +ago; but while it would be mere demagogic clap-trap to speak of the +remorseless exhaustion of labour by capital, there is nevertheless room +enough for the cultivation of greater amenity between the two. And so it +will remain for some time to come. Social legislation may do a great deal +in the course of time, but it cannot do everything, and at best it must +follow the awakening of the popular conscience. Hence progress must be +made step by step, for nothing is so menacing to the stability of the +social fabric as sudden changes, and a wise statesman prefers to let every +one of his acts do its own work, and produce its own consequences, before +he risks the next move. The disintegration of social life is much worse +than social misery, for disintegration makes misery universal, and throws +innumerable obstacles in the way towards restoration. + +And, however much the Dutch understand the workman's feelings and +position, however much they all long to see the latter improved, they also +have learned enough of social and political history to know that for the +community in general the only wise and safe principle of action is +progress by degrees--evolution, not revolution. + + + + +Chapter VI + +The Canals and Their Population + + + +When Drusus a few years before the commencement of our era excavated the +Yssel canal, and thus gave a new arm to the Rhine, he began a process of +canalization in the Frisian and Batavian provinces which has been going on +more or less ever since. To the foreigner Holland or the Northern +Netherlands must always appear a land of dykes and canals, the one not +more important for protection than the other as an artery of +communication; spreading commerce and supporting national life. Napoleon, +with _naïve_ comprehensiveness, called Holland the alluvion of French +rivers. Dutch patriots declare with legitimate pride, 'God gave us the +sea, but we made the shore,' and no one who has seen the artificial +barrier that guards the mainland from the Hook to the Texel will disparage +their achievement or scoff at their pretensions. + +[Illustration: A Sea-Going Canal.] + +The sea-dyke saves Holland from the Northern Ocean, sombre and grey in its +most genial mood, menacing and stormy for the long winter of our northern +hemisphere; but it is to the inland dykes that protect the low-lying +polders that Holland owes her prosperity and the sources of wealth which +have made her inhabitants a nation. The original character of the country, +a marshland intersected by the numerous channels of the Rhine and the +Meuse, rendered it imperative that the System of dykes should be +accompanied by a brother system of canals. The over-abundant waters had +not merely to be arrested, they had to be confined and led off into +prepared channels. In this manner also they were made to serve the +purposes of man. High-roads across swamps were either impracticable or too +costly; but canals furnished a sure and convenient means of transport and +communication. + +At the same time they did not imperil the security of the country. Roads +on causeways or reared on sunken piles would have opened the door to an +invader, but the canals provided an additional weapon of defence, for the +opening of the dykes sufficed to turn the country again into its primeval +state of marshland. The occasion on which this measure alone saved +Holland during the French invasion of 1670 is a well-known passage in +history, and the hopes of the Dutch in resisting the attack of any +powerful aggressor would centre in the same measure of defence, which is +the submerging of the country, practically speaking, under the waters of +the canals and rivers. There exists a popular belief that there is at +Amsterdam one master key, a turn of which would let loose the waters over +the land, but whether it is well founded or not no one except a very few +officials can say. + +Pending any unfortunate necessity for breaking through the dykes and +letting loose the waters, it may be observed in passing that the effectual +maintenance of the dykes is a constant anxiety, and entails strenuous +exertions. They stand in need of repeated repairing, and it is computed +that they are completely reconstructed in the course of every four or five +years. A sum of nearly a million sterling is spent annually on the work. +A large and specially trained staff of engineers are in unceasing harness, +a numerous band of dyke watchers are constantly on the look-out, and when +they raise the shout, 'Come out! come out!' not a man, woman, or child +must hold back from the summons to strengthen the weak points through +which threatens to pass the flood that would overwhelm the land. It is a +constant struggle with nature, in which the victory rests with man. As the +dyke is the bulwark of Dutch prosperity in peace, it might be converted +into the ally of despairing patriotism in war. + +There are marked differences among the canals. The two largest and best +known canals, the North Canal and the North Sea Canal, are passages to the +ocean for the largest ships, and specially intended to benefit the trade +of Amsterdam. The North Canal was made in 1819-25, soon after the +restoration of the House of Orange, with an outlet at Helder, near the +mouth of the Texel. It has a breadth of between 40 and 50 yards, a length +of 50 miles, and a depth of 20 feet, which was then thought ample. After +forty years' use this canal was found inadequate from every point of view. +It was accordingly decided to construct a new canal direct from Amsterdam +to Ymuiden across the narrowest strip of Holland. Although the Y was +utilized, the labour on this canal was immense, and occupied a period of +eleven years, being finally thrown open to navigation in 1877. In length +it is under 16 miles, but its average breadth is 100 yards, and the depth +varies from 23 to 27 feet. Consequently the largest ships from America or +the Indies can reach the wharves of Amsterdam as easily as if it were a +port on the sea-coast. Leaving aside the sea-passages that have been +canalized among the islands of Zeeland, the remaining canals are inland +waterways serving as the principal highways of the country, giving one +part of the country access to the other, and especially serving as +approaches or lanes to the great rivers Meuse and Rhine. + +[Illustration: A Village in Dyke-Land.] + +The interesting canal population of Holland is, of course, to be found on +these canals, which are traversed in unceasing flow from year's end to +year's end by the tjalks, or national barges. On these boats, which more +resemble a lugger than a barge, they navigate not only the canals of their +own country, but the Rhine up to Coblentz, and even above that place. It +has been computed that Germany imports half its food-supply through +Rotterdam, and much of this is borne to its destined markets on tjalks. +The William Canal connects Bois le Duc with Limburg, and saves the great +bend of the Meuse. The Yssel connects with the Drenthe the Orange and the +Reitdiep canals, which convey to the Rhine the produce of remote Groningen +and Friesland. The Rhine represents the destination of the bulk of the +permanent canal population of Holland, whose floating habitations furnish +one of the most interesting sights to be met with on the waters of the +country, but which represent one of the secret phases of the people's +life, into which few tourists or visitors have the opportunity of peering. + +The canal population of Holland is fixed on a moderate computation at +50,000 persons. For this number of persons the barge represents the only +fixed home, and the year passes in ceaseless movement across the inland +waters of the country or on the great German river, excepting for the +brief interval when the canals are frozen over in the depth of winter. +Even during these periods of enforced idleness the barge does not the less +continue to be their home, for the simple reason that the canal population +possesses no other. Their whole life for generations, the bringing up and +education of the children, the years of toil from youth to old age, are +passed on these barges, which, varying in size and still more in +condition, are as closely identified with the name of home in their +owners' minds as if they were built of brick and stone on firm land. The +ambition of the youth who tugs at the rope is to possess a tjalk of his +own, and he diligently looks out for the maiden whose dowry will assist +him, with his own savings, to make the purchase. This he may hope to +procure for five or six hundred gulden, if he will be content with one of +limited dimensions, and somewhat marked by time. When a family comes he +will want a larger and more commodious boat, but by that time the profits +which his first tjalk will have earned as a carrier will go far towards +buying a second. + +The tjalks are all built in the same form and from a common model. They +carry a mast and sail, although for the greater part of their journeys +they are towed by their owners, or rather by the familles, wife and +children, of the owner. Mynheer, the barge-owner, is usually to be seen +smoking his pipe and taking his ease near the tiller. Formerly it was +otherwise, for the towing was done by dogs, under the personal direction +of, and no doubt with some assistance from, the barge-owner himself, while +his wife and children remained on the poop of the boat. But five and +twenty years ago the authorities of Amsterdam issued a law prohibiting the +employment of dogs in the work of towing, and gradually this law was +generally adopted and enforced throughout the country. When dogs were +emancipated from their servitude on the canal-bank the family had to take +their places, and by degrees the ease-loving head of the family has grown +content to look on and think towing a labour reflecting on his dignity. +There is nothing unusual in the sight of a barge being towed by an old +woman, her daughter or daughter-in-law, and several children. As they +strain at the rope the work seems extremely hard, but the people +themselves appear unconscious of any hardship or inequality in the +distribution of labour. + +The barge is in the first place a conveyance. The whole of the front part +of the boat represents the hold in which the cargo is placed. This is +generally represented by cheese or vegetables, timber, peat, and stones, +the last-named being a return-cargo for the repairing of dykes and the +construction of quays. But in the second place it is a house or place of +residence, and the stern of the boat is given up for that purpose. The +living room is the raised deck or poop, on which is not only the tiller, +but the cooking-stove. The sleeping-room forms the one covered-in +apartment. It is easily divisible into two by a temporary or removable +partition, and it always possesses the two little windows, one on each +side of the tiller, which give it so great a resemblance to a doll's +house. This resemblance is certainly heightened by the custom of colouring +the barges, which are always painted a bright colour, red or green being +perhaps the most usual. As ornament there is usually a good deal of +brasswork; the handle of the tiller is generally bordered with the metal, +and the owner seems to take pride in nailing brass along the bulwarks of +his boat where it is not wanted and is even little seen. It has been +suggested that the polishing of these brass plates or bars provides a +pleasant change from the dull routine work of towing. The brightness of +the paint and the brasswork constitutes the pride of the barge-owners, and +supplies a standard of comparison among them. + +To increase the homelike aspect of this water residence, birds and plants, +always in more or less quantity and variety, are to be seen either in the +windows or on the deck. The poorest bargee, which generally means the +youngest or the beginner, will have one song-bird in a gilt cage, and as +he accumulates money in his really profitable calling, he will add to his +collection of birds a row of flowers and bulbs in pots. Thus he says, with +a glow of satisfaction, 'I possess an aviary and a garden, like my cousin +Hans on the polders, although my home is on the moving waters.' To +strengthen the illusion what does he do but fix a toy gate on the poop +above his sleeping-cabin, and thus cherishes the belief that he is on his +own domain? In the evening, when the towing is over for the day, the women +bring out their sewing, the children play round the tiller, and the good +man smokes his immense pipe with complete and indolent satisfaction. And +so day passes on to day without a variation, and life runs by without a +ripple or a murmur for the canal population, while the mere landsmen look +on with envy at what seems to them an idyllic existence, and even ladies +of breeding and high station have been known to declare that they would +gladly change places with the mistress of the bargee's quarter-deck. That +was no doubt in the days before women had to take on themselves the brunt +and burden of the towing. + +[Illustration: A Canal in Dordrecht.] + +But even for the canal population of Holland the halcyon days are past. +The spirit of reform is in the air. It may not be long before the tjalk, +with its doll's house and its residential population, will finally +disappear, and leave the canals of Holland as dull and colourless as the +inland waters of any other country. The reform seems likely to come about +in this way. There are at least 30,000 children resident on the +canal-boats. How are they to be properly educated and brought up as useful +citizens if they are to continue to lead a migratory existence which never +leaves them for a fortnight in a single place? Formerly, nobody cared +whether they were educated or not. They were left undisturbed to live +their lives in their own simple and primitive way. As De Amicis wrote: +'The children are born and grow up on the water; the boat carries all +their small belongings, their domestic affections, their past, their +present, and their future. They labour and save, and after many years they +buy a larger boat, selling the old one to a family poorer than themselves, +or handing it over to the eldest son, who in his turn instals his wife, +taken from another boat, and seen for the first time in a chance meeting +on the canal.' But now the State has begun to interest itself in the +children, and its intervention threatens to put a rude and summary ending +to the system of heredity and exclusion which has kept the canal +population a class apart. + +For some time past schools have been in existence, especially devoted to +the education of the barge children, and whenever the barges are moored in +harbour the children are expected to attend them. But these periods of +halting are very brief and uncertain. The stationary barge earns no money, +and it may even be that the parents evade the law as far as possible for +fear of seeing their children acquire a distaste for the life in which +they have been brought up. But the Government, having taken one step in +the matter, cannot afford to go back, and it must also have definite +satisfactory results to show for its legislation. The tentative measure of +temporary schools along the canals has not leavened the illiteracy of the +canal population. It will, therefore, become necessary at no great +interval to devise some fresh and drastic regulations. Compulsory +attendance at school for nine months of the year, which now applies to +children in normal circumstances, may not be the lot of the barge children +for some time, but when it comes, as it inevitably will one day, it will +of necessity mean the break-up of the home life on the canals, for the +children will have to be left behind during the almost unceasing voyages, +and a place of residence will have to be provided on land. Where the +children are the women will soon be, and gradually this place of residence +will become the home, displacing the barge in the associations and +affections of the canal population. Whether these changes will benefit +those most affected by them cannot be guaranteed, but at least they will +put an end to the separate existence of the canal population. + +When this result has been compassed by the inexorable progress of +education and knowledge, the gradual disappearance of the canal +population, the class of hereditary bargees as we have known it, and as it +still exists, may be expected to follow at no remote date, for it was +based on the enforcement of the family principle, and on the devotion of a +whole community, from its youngest to its eldest member, to its +maintenance. As it is the tow-barge is something of an anachronism, but +the withdrawal of the youthful recruits, whose up-bringing alone rendered +it possible, will entail its inevitable extinction. The decay and break-up +of the guild of tjalk owners will be hastened by the introduction of steam +and electricity as means of locomotion. The canals will lose the +bright-coloured barges which are to-day their most striking feature, and +the population that has so long floated over their surface. Life will be +duller and more monotonous. The canal population, so long distinct, will +be merged in the rest of the community. The tug will displace the +tow-rope. The pullers will be housed on land, mastering the three R's +instead of learning to strain at the girth. + +But there is still a brief period left during which the canal population +may be seen in its original primitive existence, devoted to the barge, +which is the only home known to six or seven thousand families, and +traversing the water roads of their country in unceasing and endless +progression. There is nothing like it in any other country of Europe. +Venice has its water routes, but the gondola is not a domicile. There was +a canal population in England, but, like much else in our modern life, it +has lost whatever picturesqueness it might once have claimed. For a true +canal population, bright and happy, living the same life from father to +son and generation to generation, we must go to Holland. There these +inland navigators ply their vocation with only one ambition, and that to +become the owner of a tjalk, and to rear thereon a family of towers. It is +said that the life is one that requires the consumption of unlimited +quantitics of 'schnapps,' and the humidity of the atmosphere is undoubted. +But even free libations do not diminish the prosperity of the bargees. +They are a thriving race, and it must also be noted to their credit that +they are well behaved, and not given to quarrels. Collisions on the +thickly-covered canals are rare; malicious collisions are unknown. The +barges pass and repass without hindrance, the tow-ropes never get +entangled, there is mutual forbearance, and the skill derived from long +experience in slipping the ropes uncler the barges does the rest. The +conditions under which the canal population exists and thrives are a +survival of an older order of things. When they disappear another of the +few picturesque heritages of mediæval life will have been removecl from +the hurly-burly and fierce competition of modern existence. + + + + +Chapter VII + +A Dutch Village + + + +Villages in Holland are towns in miniature, for the simple reason that +when you have a marsh to live in you drain a part of it and build on that +part, and so build in streets, and do not form a village as in England, by +houses dotted here and there round a green or down leafy lanes. The +village green in Holland is the village street or square in front of the +church or 'Raadhuis.' Here the children play, for you cannot play in a +swamp, and that is what polder land is seven months out of the year, and +so we find that a Dutch village in most parts of the country is a town in +miniature. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +Thirty years ago the 'Raadhuis' would have been the village inn, barber's +shop, and the principal hotel all rolled into one, and the innkeeper, as a +natural consequence, the wealthiest man in the neighbourhood. The farmers +would have sat at the 'Raad,' i.e. the Village Council, with their caps +over their eyes, long Gouda pipes in their mouths, and a 'Glaasje Klare' +('Schiedam') under their chairs which they would have steadily sipped at +intervals, puffing at their pipes during the whole sitting. Their wooden +shoes ('Klompen'), scrubbed for the occasion to a brilliant white with the +help of a good layer of whitening, might have been seen in a row standing +on the door-mat, for no well-educated farmer would ever have dreamed of +entering a room with shoes on his feet, and he would have taken his +'pruim,' or quid of tobacco, which every farmer chews even when smoking, +out of his mouth and laid it on the window-sill, the usual receptacle for +such things, and there it would lie in its own little circle of brown +fluid, to be replaced either in his own or his neighbour's mouth after the +meeting was over. Nowadays a farmer goes to the 'Raad' dressed in a suit +of black clothes and with his feet encased in leather boots. He never +wears 'Klompen' save when at work in the field or on the farm. He also +talks of his 'Gemeente,' for all Holland is portioned off into +'Gemeenten,' and a village is such in as good a sense as large towns like +The Hague and Amsterdam, and better if anything, for the taxes there are +not so high. Each 'Gemeente' is separately governed by a Burgomaster and +'Leden van den Raad', which is nothing more nor less than a County +Council, presided over by a prominent man nominated by the sovereign, and +not elected by the members, of which some are called 'Wethouders,' and +are, like the other members, elected by the residents of the district. +These Wethouders, with the Burgomaster, form the 'Dagelyksch Bestuur.' All +ordinary matters concerning the 'Gemeente,' such as giving information to +the Minister of War about the men who have signed for the militia, or +about any person living in their 'Gemeenten,' are regulated by the +'Dagelyksch Bestuur,' though matters of import are brought before the +'Raad.' Next in importance to the Burgomaster come the 'Gemeenteontvanger,' +who receives all the taxes, and the 'Notary, who is the busiest man in the +village, although the doctor and clergyman or priest have a large share in +the work of contributing to the welfare of the villagers. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +A village clergyman is an important person, for he is held in high honour +by his parishioners, and his larder is always well stocked free of cost. +His income also is relatively larger than that of a town pastor, for +besides his fixed salary he reaps a nice little revenue from the pastures +belonging to the 'Pastorie,' which he lets out to farmers. The +schoolmaster, on the contrary, is treated with but little consideration, +and he often feels decidedly like a fish out of water, for though +belonging by birth to the labouring class, he is too well educated to +associate with his former companions and yet not sufficiently refined to +move in the village 'society,' besides which he would not be able to +return hospitality, as his salary only amounts to from £40 to £60 a year, +and nowhere is the principle of reciprocity more observed than in Dutch +hospitality in certain classes. In very small villages many offices are +combined in one person, and so we find a prominent inhabitant blacksmith, +painter, and carpenter, while the baker's shop is a kind of universal +provider for the villagers' simple wants. The butcher is the only person +who is the man of one occupation, though he, too, goes round to the +neighbouring farms to help in the slaughtering of the cattle, and +sometimes lends a hand in the salting and storing of the meat. + +The farmers live just outside the village, and only come there when they +go to the 'Raad' or on Saturday evenings when the week's work is done. +They then visit the barber before meeting at the _café_ for their weekly +game of billiards. Every resident of the village also betakes himself to +his 'club' or 'Societeit' on Saturday night, and just as the 'Mindere +man,' i.e. farmers and labourers, have their games and discuss their +farms, their cattle, and the price of hay or corn, so, too, the +'Notabelen' discuss every subject under the sun, not forgetting their dear +neighbours. + +On Sunday mornings the whole 'Gemeente' goes to church, from the +Burgomaster to the poorest farm-labourer, and all are dressed in their +best. The men of the village have put aside their working-clothes, and +are attired in blue or black cloth suits with white shirt fronts and +coloured ties. The women have donned black dresses, caps and shawls, and +carry their scent-bottles, peppermints, and 'Gezangboek' (hymn-book) with +large golden clasps. The 'Stovenzetster,' a woman who acts as verger, +shows the good people to their seats and provides the women, if the +weather is cold, with 'warme stoven' (hot stoves), to keep their feet +comfortable. These little 'stoves' contain little three-cornered green or +brown pots ('testen'), in which pieces of glowing peat are put, and +sometimes when the peat is not quite red-hot it smokes terribly, and +gives a most unpleasant odour to the building. The women survive it, +however, by resorting to their _eau de Cologne,_ which they sprinkle upon +their handkerchiefs, and keep passing to their neighbours during the +whole service. + +The village schoolmaster has a special office to perform in the Sunday +service. It is he who reads a 'chapter' to them before the entrance of the +clergyman, who only comes when service has begun. Then the sermon, which +is the chief part of the service in Dutch churches, begins. This sermon is +very long, and the congregation sleep through the first part very +peacefully, but the rest is not for long, for when the domine has spoken +for about three-quarters of an hour he calls upon his congregation to sing +a verse of some particular psalm. The schoolmaster starts the singing, +which goes very slowly, each note lasting at least four beats, so that the +tune is completely lost. However, as a rule, every one sings a different +tune, and nobody knows which is the right one. Two collections are taken +during the service, one for the poor and one for the church, the +schoolmaster and the elders ('Ouderlingen') of the church going round with +little bags tied to very long sticks, which they pass ail along a row in +which to receive the 'gifts.' Generally one cent is given by each of the +congregation. + +[Illustration: Approach to an Overyssel Farm.] + +After church is over the Sunday lunch takes the next place in the day's +routine. The table is always more carefully set out on Sundays than on +other days, and to the usual fare of bread, butter, and cheese are added +smoked beef and cake, while the coffee-pot stands on the 'Komfoortje' (a +square porcelain stand with a little light inside to keep the pot hot), +and the sugar-pot contains white sugar as a Sunday treat, for sugar is +very dear in Holland, and cannot form an article of daily consumption. +Servants always make an agreement about sugar; hence on week-days a supply +of 'brokken' (sweets something like toffee, and costing about a penny for +three English ounces) is kept in the sugar-pot, and when the people drink +coffee they put a 'brok' in their mouths and suck it. Should their cup be +emptied before the 'brok' is finished, they replace it on their saucers +till a second cup is poured out for them, and if they do not take a second +cup, then their 'brok' is put back into the sugar-pot again. + +After lunch the men now find their way to the 'Societeit,' or in summer to +the village street, where they walk about in their shirt-sleeves and +smoke. The children go to their Sunday schools, or, if they are Roman +Catholics, to their 'Leering,' which is a Bible-class held for them in +church, and in villages where there is no Sunday school they, too, +leisurely perambulate the village dressed in their best clothes, even if +it is a wet day. The women first clear away the lunch utensils, and then +have a little undisturbed chat with their neighbours on the doorstep, or +go to see their friends in town. At four o'clock the whole family +assembles again in the parlour for their 'Borreltje,' either consisting of +'Boerenjongens' (brandied raisins) or 'Brandewyn met suiker' (brandy with +sugar), which they drink out of their best glasses. There is no church in +the evening, so the villagers retire early to bed, so as to be in good +trim for the week's hard work again. + +From this sketch it will be judged that life in a village is very dull. +There is nothing to break the monotony of the days, and one season passes +by in precisely the same way as another. Days and seasons, in fact, make +no difference whatever in the villager's existence. There is no pack of +hounds to fire the sporting instinct; no excitement of elections; no +distraction of any kind. All is quiet, regular, and uneventful, and when +their days are over they sleep with their fathers naturally enough, for +only too often have they been half asleep all their lives. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +The Peasant at Home + + + +To describe an 'average' Dutch peasant would be to say very little of him. +There is far too much difference in this class of people all over the +Netherlands to allow of any generalization. In Zeeland we meet two +distinct types; one very much akin to the Spanish race, having a +Spaniard's dark hair, dark eyes, and sallow complexion, and often very +good-looking. The other type is entirely different, fair-haired, +light-eyed, and of no particular beauty. In Limburg, the most southern +province of the Netherlands, one finds a mixture of the German, Flemish, +and Dutch types, and the language there is a dialect formed from all those +three tongues, while in the most northern province, Groningen, the people +speak a dialect resembling that spoken in Overyssel and Gelderland, and +the Frisians, their neighbours, would feel themselves quite strangers in +the last named provinces, and would not even be able to make themselves +understood when speaking in their usual language. In the Betuwe the +dialect spoken differs from that in the Veluwe, but no distinct line can +be drawn to determine where one dialect begins and the other ends. + +In their mode of dressing, too, there is a great difference between the +people of one province and of another, and in Zeeland every island has +its own special costume. Just as they differ in dress, so they also differ +in appearance and education, wealth, and civilization. + +A North Holland farmer is well-to-do and independent. For centuries he has +battled and disputed every inch of his land with the sea, and it has been +pointed out by observant people that the effects of the strife are still +marked in his harsh and rugged features and independent ways. It is well +known that his cattle are the best in all the country, for the pastures, +by reason of the damp polder ground, are very rich, and yield year out +year in an abundant crop of grass and hay, the cows he keeps for milking +purposes giving from 20 to 30 litres, or from 45 to 70 pints, of milk a +day, which is a very high yield. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Costume.] + +The 'Vrye Fries'--for the Frisian congratulates himself on never having +been conquered, but always having in days of war and tribal feud made his +own terms more or less with an adversary--stands higher in culture and +intellect, and is also more enterprising, than the great majority of the +Dutch peasants. He welcomes many inventions, and is willing to risk +something in trying them, and so one can see many kinds of machinery in +use on the Frisian farms. He also works with the most modern and approved +artificial manures. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Costumes.] + +The Groningen and Overyssel boer[Footnote: Peasant and farmer as a rule +are convertible terms. A farmer is a peasant, although a peasant is not +always the owner of a farm. In point of education the farmer himself does +not differ from the average labourer on his farm, and both alike are +classed as 'boeren.'] follows his example unless the farms are so small as +to make large machinery impracticable, when he goes along the path marked +out by his great-grandfather, and finds safety, if not novelty, in so +doing. All over the north of Holland the cows are good, and there is milk, +butter, and cheese in abundance at the markets, especially the two +last-named articles, as nearly all the milk is sent to the +'Zuivelfabrieken,' as butter and cheese factories are called. + +Travelling from north to south, and so reaching the Wilhelminapolder in +Zeeland, we come across the steam-plough, but that is the only place in +the Netherlands where it is in use. The further south one goes--Zeeland +excepted--the lower becomes the standard of life, and the peasants seem to +care for little else than their fields and cattle, while the people of +Noord Brabant are the poorest and dirtiest of them all. The produce of the +soil varies according to the ground cultivated. In Utrecht and Brabant +many thousand acres are devoted to tobacco, while Overyssel and +Gelderland, as a rule, grow rye, oats, buckwheat, and flax. In Drenthe the +greater part of the province yields peat, and North and South Holland are +famous all over the world for their rich pastures. Cabbages and +cauliflowers are also extensively cultivated for exportation, and in +Friesland they have begun to cultivate them also. From Wateringen to the +Hoek van Holland one sees smiling orchards, while from Leyden to Haarlem +blossom the world-famed bulb fields, too well known to need special +description. + +The farm-work is done in the spring and summer. The women invariably help +with the lighter work of weeding in the fields, while in harvest-time +they work as hard as the men, and very picturesque they look in their +broad black hats and white linen skirts. But when the harvest is gathered +in, and the pigs have been converted into hams and sausages, the man's +chief labour is over, although the manuring of the land and the threshing +of the corn have to be attended to. Still, he has his evenings wherein to +sit by the fireside and smoke, presumably gathering energies the while +for the coming spring. A woman's work, however, is never ended, for +while the man smokes she spins the flax grown on her own ground and the +wool from the sheep of the farm. In some parts of Overyssel it is still +the custom for the women to meet together at some neighbouring friend's +house to spin, and during these sociable evenings they partake of the +'spinning-meal,' which consists of currant bread and coffee, and in turn +sing and tell stories. + +A weaver always visits every house once a year with his own loom to assist +at these gatherings, and when the linen is woven it is rolled up and tied +with coloured ribbons, decorated with artificial flowers, and kept in the +linen-press--the pride of every Dutch housewife--and when a daughter of +the house marries several rolls of this linen are added to her trousseau. +The wealth of a farm is, in fact, calculated by the number of rolls. These +are handed down for generations, and often contain linen more than a +hundred years old. The wool, when woven, is made up into thick petticoats, +of which every well-dressed peasant woman wears six or seven. + +The education of the farmer is not very liberal. A child generally goes to +school until he is twelve years of age, and during that time he has learnt +reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a rule, however, he does not attend +regularly, as his help is so often wanted at home, especially at +harvest-time, and although the new education law--the 'Leerplichtwet' of +July 7th, 1901--has made school attendance compulsory, yet a child is +allowed to remain at home when wanted if he has attended school regularly +during the six previous months. The interest of the parent and the +inclination of the child are thus combined to the retarding of the +intellectual progress of the boer. And yet, although they are so badly +taught, the peasantry have a very good opinion about things in general, +and if you assist them in their work and show them that you can use your +hands as well as they can they have great respect for you, and will listen +to anything you like to tell them about or read to them. The women +especially have very pronounced views of their own, a trait not confined +to Netherland womenfolk. To go about among them is at present the best way +of educating them, and when you have once won their regard they will go +through fire and water for you; but they despise any one who 'does +nothing,' for, like most manual workers, they do not understand that +brain-work is as hard as manual labour. + +[Illustration: An Itinerant Linen-Weaver.] + +[Illustration: Farmhouse Interior, showing the Linen-Press.] + +The farmhouses in most parts of the country are neat and more or less of a +pattern, although they differ in minor details. Outside their appearance +is very quaint and picturesque, and the roofs are either thatched or +tiled. In Groningen they now hardly resemble farms. They are, indeed, +little country seats, and the interior is decidedly modern. Some of the +very poorest-looking houses are to be found in Overyssel and Drenthe. +These are built of clay, and stand halfway in the ground. The roofs are +covered with sods taken from the 'Drentsche Veengronden.' Some of these +'Plaggewoningen,' as they are called, are not more than twelve feet square +and eight feet high. The ceiling of the room inside the dwelling is only +four or five feet high, and above this the stores of hay and corn are +kept. A hole in the roof serves as chimney, and in the floor--which is +nothing but hard clay--a hole is dug to serve as fireplace. On the larger +farms in Overyssel the main building is generally divided into two parts. +The back part is for the cattle, which stand in rows on either side, with +a large open space in the centre, called the 'deel,' where the carts are +kept. A large arched double door leads into it, while the thatched roof +comes down low on either side. Leading from the 'deel,' or stable, into +the living-room is a small door, with a window to enable the inhabitants +to see what is going on among their friends of the fields. Against the +wall which forms the partition between the stable and living-room is the +fireplace. You will sometimes find an open fire on the floor, though in +the more modern houses stoves are used. The chimney-piece is in the shape +of a large overhanging hood with a flounce of light print 'Schoorsteenval' +round it, and a row of plates on a shelf above serves for ornament. The +much-prized linen-press, which has already been mentioned, is usually +placed at right-angles to the outer door, so as to form a kind of passage. + +In some farmhouses there is no partition at all between the stable and +living-room, but the cattle are kept at the back, and the people live at +the other end, near the window. This is called a 'loshuis,' or open house, +and very picturesque it is to look at. The smell of the cows is considered +to be extremely healthy, and consumptive patients have been completely +cured (so it is popularly believed) by sleeping in the cowsheds. Besides +being healthy, this primitive system is also cheap, for the cows give out +so much warmth that it is almost unnecessary to have fires except for +cooking purposes. Some of these open houses have no chimneys, the smoke +finding its way out between the tiles of the roof or through the door. +There is a hayloft above the part occupied by the cattle, while over the +heads of the family hams, bacon, and sausages of every description hang +from the rafters. Smoke is very useful in curing these stores, and this +may account for the absence of a chimney. + +In Brabant, however, where there are chimneys, the farmer hangs his stores +in them, so that when looking up through the wide opening to the sky +beyond numerous tiers of dangling sausages meet one's admiring gaze. The +living-room is a living-room in every sense of the word, for the family +work, eat, and sleep there. Sometimes a larger farm has a wing attached to +it containing bedrooms, but this is not general, and even so most of the +family sleep in the living-room. The beds are placed round the room. They +are, in fact, cupboards, and by day are fixed in the wall. Green curtains +are hung before the beds, and are always drawn at night, completely +concealing the beds from view. Some have doors like ordinary cupboards, +but this is more general in North Holland. In Hindeloopen (Friesland) one +or two beds in the living-room are kept as 'pronk-bedden' (show beds). +They are decked out with the finest linen the farmers' wives possess, the +sheets gorgeous with long laces, and the pillow-slips beautifully +embroidered. These beds are never slept in, and the curtains are kept open +all day long, so that any one who enters the room can at once admire their +beauty. Some of the more wealthy have a 'best bedroom,' which they keep +carefully locked. They dust it every day, and clean it out once a week, +but never use it. In South Holland it is more customary to have a +'pronk-kamer' ('show-room'), which is not a bedroom, but a kind of +parlour. This room is never entered by the inhabitants of the house except +at a birth or a death, and in the latter case they put the corpse there. +In Hindeloopen the dead are put in the church to await burial, and there +they rest on biers specially made for the occasion. A different bier is +used to represent the trade or profession or sex of the dead person. These +biers are always most elaborately painted (as, indeed, are all things in +Hindeloopen), with scenes out of the life of a doctor, a clergyman, a +tradesman, or a peasant. + +[Illustration: Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse.] + +The costume worn by the peasantry is always quaint, and this is +especially so in Hindeloopen. The waistband of a peasant woman takes +alone an hour and a half to arrange. It consists of a very long, thin, +black band, which is wound round and round the waist till it forms one +broad sash. The dress itself includes a black skirt and a check bodice, a +white apron, and a dark necktie; from the waistband hangs at the +right-hand side a long silver chain, to which are attached a silver +pincushion, a pair of scissors, and a needle-case; then on the left-hand +side hangs a reticule with silver clasps; and a long mantle, falling +loose from the shoulders to the hem of the skirt, is worn over all +out-of-doors. This latter is of some light-coloured material, with a +pattern of red flowers and green leaves. On the head three caps are worn, +one over the other, and for outdoor wear a large, tall bonnet is donned +by way of completing the costume. + +[Illustration: A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable.] + +All the Frisian costumes are beautiful. Many ladies of that province still +wear the national dress, and a very becoming one it is. + +In Overyssel the women all over the province dress alike and in the same +way their ancestors did. In the house the dress is an ordinary full +petticoat of some cotton stuff, generally blue, and a tight-fitting and +perfectly plain bodice with short sleeves, a red handkerchief folded +across the chest, and a close-fitting white cap, with a little flounce +round the neck. When they go to market with their milk and eggs they are +very smart.[Footnote: Butter used to be one of the wares they took to +market, but now so many butter-factories have arisen, and also so much is +imported from Australia, that it is hardly worth their while to make it.] + +They then wear a fine black merino skirt, made very full, and the +inevitable petticoats, which make the skirt stand out like a crinoline. On +Sundays they wear the same costume as on market-days, and in winter they +are to be seen with large Indian shawls worn in a point down the back in +the old-fashioned way. When they go to communion, as they do four times a +year, the shawls are of black silk with long black fringes. The hair is +completely hidden by a close-fitting black cap, and some women cut off +their hair so as to give the head a perfectly round shape. Over the black +cap is worn a white one of real lace, called a 'knipmuts,' the pattern of +which shows to advantage over the black ground. A deep flounce of gauffred +real lace goes round the neck, while round the face there is a ruche or +frill, also very finely gauffred. A broad white brocaded ribbon is laid +twice round the cap, and fastened under the chin. Long gold earrings are +fastened to the cap on either side of the face, and the ears themselves +are hidden. The style of gauffering is still the same as is seen in the +muslin caps of so many Dutch pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, especially in those of Frans Hals. When in mourning, the women +wear a plain linen cap without any lace, and the men a black bow in their +caps. It is quite a work of art to make up a peasant woman's head-dress, +and several cap-makers are kept busy at it all day long. + +The clothes the men wear are not so elaborate. They used to be short +knickerbockers with silver clasps, but these have entirely gone out of +fashion, and they have been replaced by ordinary clothes of cloth or +corduroy. Both sexes wear wooden shoes, which the men often make +themselves. In the far-famed little island of Marken, the men are very +clever at this work, and they carve them beautifully. In some lonely +hamlets the unmarried women wear black caps with a thick ruche of ostrich +feathers or black fur round the face. The jewellery consists of garnet +necklaces closed round the neck and fastened by golden clasps. The garnets +are always very large, and this fashion is general ail over the +Netherlands. In Stompwyk, a little village between The Hague and Leyden, a +peasant family possesses garnets as large as a swallow's egg. + +If the dress of the boers is solid, quaint, and national, the daily food +of the class is in keeping with their conservative temper and traditional +gastronomic ability. It is of the plainest character, but often consists +of the strangest mixtures. When a pig is killed, and the different parts +for hams, sides of bacon, etc., have been stored, and the sausages +made--especially after they have boiled the black-puddings, or +'Bloedworst,' which is made of the blood of the pigs--a thick fatty +substance remains in the pot. This they thicken with buckwheat meal till +it forms a porridge, and then they eat it with treacle. The name of this +dish is 'Balkenbry.' A portion of this, together with some of the +'slacht,' i.e. the flesh of the pig, is sent as a present to the +clergyman of the village, and it is to be hoped he enjoys it. + +Another favourite dish, especially in Overyssel and Gelderland, is +'Kruidmoes.' This is a mixture of buttermilk boiled with buckwheat meal, +vegetables, celery, and sweet herbs, such as thyme, parsley, and chervil, +and, to crown all, a huge piece of smoked bacon, and it is served steaming +hot. The poor there eat a great deal of rice and flour boiled with +buttermilk, which, besides being very nutritious, is 'matchless for the +complexion,' like many of the advertised soaps. The very poor have what is +called a 'Vetpot.' This they keep in the cellar, and in it they put every +particle of fat that remains over from their meals. Small scraps of bacon +are melted down and added to it, for this fat must last them the whole +winter through as an addition to their potatoes. Indeed, the 'Vetpot' +plays as great a part in a poor man's house as the 'stock-pot' does in an +English kitchen. + +[Illustration: Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor.] + +The meals are cooked in a large iron pot, which hangs from a hook over the +open hearth. The fuel consists of huge logs of wood and heather sods, +which are also used for covering the roofs of the 'Plaggewoning.' Black or +rye bread takes the place of white, and is generally home-made. In Brabant +the women bake what is called 'Boeren mik.' This is a delicious long brown +loaf, and there are always a few raisins mixed with the dough to keep it +from getting stale. Those who have no ovens of their own put the dough in +a large long baking-tin and send it to the baker. One of the children, on +his way back from school, fetches it and carries it home _under his arm_. +You may often see farmers' children walking about in their wooden shoes +with two or more loaves under their arms. Both wooden shoes and loaves are +used in a dispute between comrades, and the loaf-carrier generally gains +the day. The crusts are very hard and difficult to cut, but, inside, the +bread is soft and palatable. + +In Brabant the peasants--small of stature, black-haired, brown-eyed, more +of the Flemish than the Dutch type--are as a rule Roman Catholics, and on +Shrove Tuesday evening 'Vastenavond,' 'Fast evening' (the night before +Lent), they bake and eat 'Worstebrood.' On the outside this bread looks +like an ordinary white loaf, but on cutting it open you find it to contain +a spicy sausage-meat mixture. All the people in this part of the country +observe the Carnival, with its accustomed licence. + +Times for farming are bad in the Netherlands as elsewhere. The rents are +high and wages low, and the consequence is that many peasants sell their +farms, which have for a long time been in their families, and rent them +again from the purchasers. The relations between landlord and tenants are +in some respects still feudalistic, and hence very old-fashioned. On some +estates the landlord has still the right of exacting personal service from +his tenants, and can call upon them to come and plough his field with +their horses, or help with the harvesting, for which service they are paid +one 'gulden,' or 1s. 8d. a day, which, of course, is not the full value of +their labour. The tenants likewise ask their landlord's consent to their +marriages, and it is refused if the man or woman is not considered +suitable or respectable. + +A farmer who keeps two or three cows pays a rent of £8 a year for his +farm, which only yields enough to keep him and his family, not in a high +standard of living either. The rent is generally calculated at the rate of +three per cent. of the value. He pays his farm-labourers 80 cents, or 1s. +4d., for a day's work. In former days, however, money was never given, and +the wages of a farm-servant then were a suit of clothes, a pair of boots, +and some linen, while the women received an apron, some linen, and a few +petticoats once a year. Now they get in addition to this £12 a year. In +Gramsbergen (Overyssel) a whole family, consisting of a mother, her +daughter, and her two grown-up sons, earned no more than four or five +guilders (8s. or 10s.) between them, but then they lived rent free. It is +not wonderful, therefore, that farm-labourers are scarce, and that many a +young man, unable to earn enough to keep body and soul together decently, +seeks work in the factories here or in Belgium,[Footnote: According to a +recent return, 56,506 Netherlands workmen are employed in Belgium.] while +those who do not wish to give up agricultural pursuits migrate to Germany, +where the demand for 'hands' is greater and the wages consequently higher. +In former days strangers came to this country to earn money. Now the +tables are turned, and the fact that Holland is situated between two +countries whose thriving industries demand a greater number of workers +every year will yet bring serious trouble and loss to Dutch agriculture. +[Footnote: Just now great results are expected from the 'allotment +system,' of which a trial has been made in Friesland on the extensive +possessions of Mr. Jansen, of Amsterdam.] + + + + +Chapter IX + +Rural Customs + + + +The Hollander is a very conservative individual, and therefore some +curious customs still prevail among the peasant and working classes in the +Netherlands, especially in the Eastern provinces, for there the people are +most primitive, and there it is that we find many queer old rhymes, +apparently without any sense in them, but which must have had their origin +in forgotten national or domestic events. A remnant of an old pagan custom +of welcoming the summer is still to be seen in many country places. On the +Saturday before Whitsunday, very early in the morning, a party of children +may be seen setting out towards the woods to gather green boughs. After +dipping these in water they return home in triumph and place them before +the doors of those who were not 'up with the lark' in such a manner that, +when these long sleepers open them, the wet green boughs will come +tumbling down upon their heads. Very often, too, the children pursue the +late risers, and beat them with the branches, jeering at them the while, +and singing about the laziness of the sluggard. These old songs have +undergone very many variations, and nowadays one cannot say which is the +correct and original form. They have, in fact, been hopelessly mixed up +with other songs, and in no two provinces do we find exactly the same +versions. The 'Luilak feest,'[Footnote: This day is called Luilak +(sluggard) in some parts of the country and the feast is called +Luilakfeest.'] of which I have just spoken, goes by the name of +'Dauwtrappen' ('treading the dew') in some parts of the country, but the +observance of it is the same wherever the custom obtains. + +[Illustration: Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs.] + +'Eiertikken' at Easter must also not be overlooked. For a whole week +before Easter the peasant children go round from house to house begging +for eggs, and carrying a wreath of green leaves stuck on a long stick. +This stick and wreath they call their 'Palm Paschen,' which really +means Palm-Sunday, and may have been so called because they make the +wreath on that day. + +Down the village streets they go, singing all the while and waving the +wreath above their heads:-- + + Palm, Palm Paschen, + Hei koekerei. + Weldra is het Paschen + Dan hebben wy een ei. + Een ei--twee ei, + Het derde is het Paschei. + + Palm, Palm Sunday, + Hei koekerei. + Soon it will be Easter + And we shall have an egg. + One egg--two eggs, + The third egg is the Easter egg. + +They knock at every farmhouse, and are very seldom sent away empty-handed. +When they have collected enough eggs to suit their purpose--generally +three or four apiece--they boil them hard and stain them with two +different colours, either brown with coffee or red with beetroot juice, +and then on Easter Day they all repair to the meadows carrying their eggs +with them, and the 'eiertikken' begins. The children sit down on the +grass, and each child knocks one of his eggs against that of another in +such a way that only one of the shells breaks. The child whose egg does +not break wins, and becomes the possessor of the broken egg. + +The strangest of all these begging-customs, however, is the one in vogue +between Christmas and Twelfth Night. Then the children go out in couples, +each boy carrying an earthenware pot, over which a bladder is stretched, +with a piece of stick tied in the middle. When this stick is twirled +about, a not very melodious grumbling sound proceeds from the contrivance, +which is known by the name of 'Rommelpot.' By going about in this manner +the children are able to collect some few pence to buy bread--or gin--for +their fathers. When they stop before any one's house, they drawl out, +'Give me a cent, and I will pass on, for I have no money to buy bread.' +The origin both of the custom and song is shrouded in mystery.[Footnote: A +Society of Research into old folklore and folk-song has recently been +founded by some of the leading Dutch literary authorities, who also +propose to publish a little periodical in which all these customs will be +collected and noted.] + +Besides the customs in vogue at such festive seasons as Whitsuntide, +Easter, and Christmas, there are yet others of more everyday occurrence +which are well worth the knowing. In Overyssel, for instance, we find a +very sensible one indeed. It is usual there when a family remove to +another part of the village, or when they settle elsewhere, for the people +living in the neighbourhood to bring them presents to help furnish their +new house. Sometimes these presents include poultry or even a pig, which, +though they do not so much furnish the house as the table, prove +nevertheless very acceptable. As soon as all the moving is over and they +are comfortably installed in their new home, the next thing to do is to +invite all the neighbours to a party. + +This is a very important social duty and ought on no account to be +omitted, as it entitles host and hostess to the help of all their guests +in the event of illness or adversity taking place in their family. If, +however, they do not conform to this social obligation, their neighbours +and friends stand aloof, and do not so much as move a finger to help them. +Should one of the family fall ill, the four nearest male neighbours are +called in. These men fetch the doctor, and do all the nursing. They will +even watch by the invalid at night, and so long as the illness lasts they +undertake all the farm-work. Sometimes they will go on working the farm +for years, and when a widow is left with young children in straitened +circumstances, these 'Noodburen' ('neighbours in need') will help her in +all possible ways, and take all the business and worry off her hands. + +[Illustration: Rommel Pot.] + +In case of a marriage, too, the neighbours do the greater part of the +preparations. They invite the relations and friends to come to the +wedding, and make ready the feast. The invitations are always given by +word of mouth, and two young men[Footnote: In Gelderland we find this same +custom and also in Friesland, but in this last-named province the +invitation is given by two young girls.] nearly related to the bride and +bridegroom are appointed to go round from house to house to bid the people +come. They are dressed for this purpose in their best Sunday clothes, and +wear artificial flowers and six peacock's feathers in their caps. The +invitation is made in poetry, in which the assurance is conveyed that +there will be plenty to eat and plenty of gin and beer to drink, and that +whatever they may have omitted to say will be told by the bride and +bridegroom at the feast. This verse in the native patois is very curious-- + + 'GOEN DAG! + + 'Daor stao'k op minen staf + En weet niet wat ik zeggen mag, + Nou hek me weer bedach + En weet ik wat ik zeggen mag + Hier sturt ons Gut yan Vente als brugom + En Mientje Elschot as de brud, + Ende' noget uwder ut + Margen vrog on tien ur + Op en tonne bier tiene twalevenne, + Op en anker win, vif, zesse + En en wanne vol rozimen. + De zult by Venterboer verschinen + Met de husgezeten + En nums vergeten, + Vrog kommen en late bliven + Anders kun wy t nie 't op krigen + Lustig ezongen, vrolik esprongen, + Springen met de beide beene, + En wat ik nog hebbe vergeten + Zult ow de Brogom ende Brud verbeten. + Hej my elk nuw wal verstaan + Dan laot de fles um de taofel gaon + + + 'GOOD DAY! + + 'I rest here on my stick, + I don't know what to say, + Now I have thought of it + And know what I may say: + Here sent us Gart van Vente, the bridegroom, + And Mientje Elschot, the bride, + To invite you + To-morrow morning at ten o'clock + To empty ten or twelve barrels of beer, + Five or six hogsheads of wine, + And a basket full of dried grapes. + You will come to the house of Venterboer + With all your inmates + And forget nobody. + Come early and remain late, + Else we can't swallow it all down. + Then sing cheerfully, leap joyfully, + Leap with both your legs. + And, what I have yet forgotten, + Think of the bridegroom and bride. + If you have understood me well + Let pass the bottle round the table.' + +The day before the wedding is to take place the bridegroom and some of +his friends arrive at the bride's house in a cart, drawn by four horses, +to bring away the bride and her belongings. These latter are a motley +collection, for they consist not only of her clothes, bed and +bed-curtains, but her spinning-wheel, linen-press full of linen, and +also a cow. After everything has been loaded upon the cart, and the +young men have refreshed themselves with 'rystebry' (rice boiled with +sweet milk), they drive away in state, singing as they go. The following +day the bride is married from the house of her parents-in-law, and as it +often happens that the young couple live with the bridegroom's people, +it is only natural that they like to have the house in proper order +before the arrival of the wedding-guests, who begin to appear as soon as +eight o'clock in the morning. When all the invited guests are assembled +and have partaken of hot gin mixed with currants, handed round in +two-handled pewter cups, kept especially for these occasions, the whole +party goes, about eleven o'clock, to the 'Stadhuis,' or Town Hall, where +the couple are married before the Burgomaster, and afterwards to the +church, where the blessing is given upon their union. On returning home +the mid-day meal is ready, and, on this festive occasion, consists of +ham, potatoes, and salt fish, and the clergyman is also honoured with +an invitation to the gathering. The rest of the day is spent in +rejoicings, in which eating and drinking take the chief part. The bride +changes her outer apparel about four times during the day, always in +public, standing before her linen-press. The day is wound up with a +dance, for which the village fiddler provides the music, the bride +opening the ball with one of the young men who invited the guests, and +she then presents him with a fine linen handkerchief as a reward for his +invaluable services on the occasion. + +In Friesland a curious old custom still exists, called the 'Joen-piezl,' +which furnishes the clue to an odd incident in Mrs. Schreiner's 'Story of +an African Farm.' When a man and girl are about to be married, they must +first sit up for a whole night in the kitchen with a burning candle on the +table between them. By the time the candle is burnt low in its socket they +must have found out whether they really are fond of each other. + +The marriage customs in North and South Holland are very different to the +former. As soon as a couple are 'aangeteekend,' i.e. when the banns are +published for the first time (which does not happen in church, but takes +the form of a notice put up at the Town Hall), and have returned from the +'Stadhuis,' they drive about and take a bag of sweets ('bruidsuikers') to +all their friends. On the wedding-day, after the ceremony is over, the +bride and bridegroom again drive out together in a 'chaise'--a high +carriage on very big wheels, with room for but two persons. The horse's +head, the whip, and the reins are all decorated with flowers and coloured +ribbons. The wedding-guests drive in couples behind the bride and +bridegroom's 'chaise,' and the progress is called 'Speuleryden.' Sometimes +they drive for miles across country, stopping at every _café_ to drink +brandy and sugar, and when they pass children on the road these call out +to them, 'Bruid, bruid, strooi je suikers uit' ('Bride, bride, strew your +sugars about.') Handfuls of sweets will thereupon be seen flying through +the air and rolling about the ground, while the children tumble over each +other in their eager haste to collect as many of these sweets as they can. +Sometimes as much as twenty-five pounds of sweets are thus scattered upon +the roadside for the village children. Such a wedding is quite an event in +the lives of these little ones, and they will talk for weeks to come about +the amount of sweets they were able to procure. + +[Illustration: A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume.] + +[Illustration: Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur.] + +At Ryswyk, a little village near The Hague, and in most villages in +Westland, South Holland, the bride and bridegroom present to the +Burgomaster and Wethouders, and also to the 'Ambtenaar van den +Burgerlyken Stand' who marries them at the 'Stadhuis,' a bag of these +sweets, while one bearing the inscription, 'Compliments of bride and +bridegroom,' is given to the officiating clergyman immediately after the +ceremony in church. On their way home all along the road they strew +'suikers' out of the carriage windows for the gaping crowds. Some of the +less well-to-do farmers, and those who live near large towns, give their +wedding-parties at a _café_ or 'uitspanning.' This word means literally a +place where the horse is taken out of the shafts, but it is also a +restaurant with a garden attached to it, in which there are swings and +seesaws, upon which the guests disport themselves during the afternoon, +while in the evening a large hall in the building is arranged for the +ball, for that is the conclusion of every 'Boeren bruiloft.' Very often +the ball lasts till the cock-crowing, and then, if the 'Bruiloft houers' +are Roman Catholics, it is no uncommon practice first to go to church and +'count their beads' before they disperse on their separate ways to begin +the duties of a new day. + +A birth is naturally an occasion that calls for very festive celebration. +When the child is about a week old, its parents send round to all their +friends to come and rejoice with them. The men are invited 'op een lange +pyp en een bitterje,' the women for the afternoon 'op suikerdebol.' At +twelve o'clock the men begin to arrive, and are immediately provided with +a long Gouda pipe, a pouch of tobacco, and a cut glass bottle containing +gin mixed with aromatic bitters. While they smoke, they talk in voices +loud enough to make any one who is not acquainted with a farmer's mode of +speech think that a great deal of quarrelling is going on in the house. +This entertainment lasts till seven o'clock, when all the men leave and +the room is cleared, though not ventilated, and the table is rearranged +for the evening's rejoicings. + +Dishes of bread and butter, flat buttered rusks liberally spread with +'muisjes' (sugared aniseed--the literal translation is 'mice'), together +with tarts and sweets of all descriptions, are put out in endless +profusion on all the best china the good wife possesses. For each of the +guests two of these round flat rusks are provided, two being the correct +number to take, for more than two would be considered greedy, and to eat +only one would be sure to offend the hostess. Eating and drinking, for +'Advocatenborrel' (brandy and eggs) is also served, go on for the greater +part of the afternoon. The mid-day meal is altogether dispensed with on +such a day, and, judging by appearances, one cannot say that the guests +look as if they had missed it! + +It is quite the national custom to eat rusks with 'muisjes' on on these +occasions, and these little sweets are manufactured of two kinds. The +sugar coating is smooth when the child is a girl, and rough and prickly +like a chestnut burr when the child is a boy; and when one goes to buy +'muisjes' at a confectioner's he is always asked whether boys' or girls' +'muisjes' are required. Hundreds-and-thousands, the well-known decoration +on buns and cakes in an English pastry-cook's shop, bear the closest +resemblance to these Dutch 'muisjes.' + +When a little child is born into a family of the better classes, the +servants are treated to biscuits and 'mice' on that day; while in the very +old-fashioned Dutch families there is still another custom, that of +offermg 'Kandeel,' a preparation of eggs and Rhine wine or hock, on the +first day the young mother receives visitors, and it is specially made for +these occasions by the 'Baker' nurse. + +Funeral processions are a very mournful sight on all occasions, but a +Dutch funeral depresses one for about a month after. The hearse is all +hung with black draperies, while on the box sits the coachman wearing a +large black hat called 'Huilebalk.' From the rim overlapping the face +hangs a piece of black cord. This he holds in his mouth to prevent the hat +from falling off his head. The hearse itself is generally embellished by +the images of grinning skulls, though the carriages following the hearse +have no distinctive mark. If such a funeral procession happens to come +along the road you yourself are going, you may be sure of enjoying its +company the whole way, for the horses are only allowed to walk, never +trot, and it takes hours to get to the cemetery. In former days the horses +were specially shod for this occasion in such a way that they went lame on +one leg. This end was achieved by driving the nail of the shoe into the +animal's foot, for people thought this added to the doleful aspect of the +_corétge_ as it advanced slowly along the road. Happily this cruelty is +now dispensed with, and indeed is entirely forbidden by the Society for +the Prevention of Cruelty to Animais, but the ugly aspect of the hearses +remains the same. + +[Illustration: An Overyssel Peasant Woman.] + +At a death, the relatives of the deceased have large cards printed, +announcing the family loss. These cards are taken round to every house in +the neighbourhood by a man specially hired for the purpose. This man, +called an 'Aanspreker,' carries a list of the names and addresses of the +people on whom he has to leave the cards; if the people sending out the +cards have friends in any other street of the town, a card is left at +every house in that street. + +[Illustration: Zeeland Children in State.] + +If the deceased was an officer, the cards, beside being sent round in +the neighbourhood, are left at every officer's house throughout the +town. To whichever profession the deceased belonged, to the people of +that profession the cards are sent. A Minister of State or any other +person occupying a very high position sends cards to every house in the +town and suburbs. + +In a village or country place a funeral is rather a popular event, and +the preparations for it somewhat resemble the preparations for a feast. +This, for instance, is the case in Overyssel. When one of a family dies, +the nearest relatives immediately call in the neighbouring women, and +these take upon themselves all the necessary arrangements. They send +round messages announcing the death and day of interment; they buy +coffee, sugar-candy, and a bottle of gin, wherewith to refresh themselves +while making the shroud and dressing the dead body; and the next morning +they take care that the church bells are duly rung, and, in the +afternoon, when the relations and friends come to offer their +condolences, they serve them, as they sit round the bier, with black +bread and coffee. When the plates and cups are empty the visitors leave +again without having spoken a word. + +On the day of the funeral, the guests assemble at two o'clock in the +afternoon. They first sit round the tables and eat and drink in silence, +and when the first batch have satisfied their appetites they move away and +make room for others. After this meal all walk round the coffin, and +repeat, one after another, 'Twas een goed mensch,' ('He or she was a good +man or woman,' as the case may be). Then the lid of the coffin is fastened +down with twelve wooden pegs, which the most honoured guest is allowed to +hammer in, and the coffin is forthwith placed on an ordinary farm-cart. +The nearest relations get in, too, and sit on the coffin, and the other +women on the cart facing the coffin. This custom is adhered to, +notwithstanding the prohibition by law to sit on any conveyance carrying a +coffin. The women are in mourning from tip to toe, and closely enveloped +in black merino shawls, which they wear over their heads. The men follow +on foot, and it is a picturesque though melancholy sight to watch these +funeral processions, always at close of day, solemnly wending their way +along the road, the dark figures of the women silhouetted against a sky +all aglow with those glorious sunsets for which Overyssel is famous. + + + + +Chapter X + +Kermis and St. Nicholas + + + +Of all the festivals and occasions of popular rejoicing and merriment in +Holland none can compare with the Kermis and the Festival of St. Nicholas, +which are in many ways peculiarly characteristic of Dutch life and Dutch +love for primitive usage. The Kermis is particularly popular, because of +the manifold amusements which are associated with it, and because it +unites all classes of the population in the common pursuit of +unsophisticated pleasure. As its name implies, the Kermis ('Kerk-mis') has +a religious origin, being named after the chief part of the Church +service, the mass. Just as the Feast of St. Baro received the name +'Bamisse,' so that of the consecration of the church was called the +'Church-mass,' or 'Kerk-mis.' In ancient times, if a church was +consecrated on the name-day of a certain saint the church was also +dedicated to that saint. Such a festival was a chief festival, or 'Hoof +feest,' for a church, and it was not only celebrated with great pomp and +solemnity, but amusements of all kinds were added to give the celebration +a more festive character. In large towns there were Kermissen at different +times of the year in different parishes, for each church was dedicated to +a different saint, so that there were as many dedicatory feasts in a town +as there were churches in it. + +At a very early period in the nation's history the Church-masses began to +wear a more worldly character, for the merchants made them an occasion for +introducing their wares and trading with the people, just as they did at +the ordinary 'year-markets.' These year-markets always fell on the same +day as the Kermissen, but they had a different origin. They were held by +permission of the Sovereign, and were first instituted to encourage trade; +but gradually the Kermis and the year-market went hand-in-hand, for the +people could no longer imagine a year-market without the Kermis +amusements, or a Kermis without booths and stalls, so if there was not +sufficient room for the latter to be built on the streets or squares, the +priest allowed them to be put up in the churchyard or sometimes even in +the church. Moreover, if it was not possible to have the year-market in +the same week as the Kermis, then the Kermis was put off to suit the +year-market, and these latter were of great aid to the religious +festivals, for they attracted a greater number of people, and as +dispensations were given for attending the masses both the churches and +the markets benefited. The mass lasted eight days, and the year-market as +long as the Church festival. The Church protected the year-markets, and +rang them in. With the first stroke of the Kermis clock the year-market +was opened and the first dance commenced, followed by a grand procession, +in which all the principal people of the town took part, and when the last +stroke died away white crosses were nailed upon all the bridges, and on +the gates of the town. These served both as a passport and also as a token +of the 'markt vrede' (market peace), so that any one seeing the cross knew +that he might enter the town and buy and sell _ad libitum_, also that his +peace and safety were guaranteed, and that any one who disturbed the +'markt vrede' would be banished from the place, and not be allowed to come +back another year. In some places this yearly market was named, after the +crosses, 'Cruyce-markt.' + +Very festive is the appearance of a town in the Kermis week. On the +opening day, at twelve o'clock, the bells of the cathedral or chief +church are set ringing, and this is the sign for the booths to be opened +and the 'Kermispret' to begin. Everywhere tempting stores are displayed +to view, and although a scent of oil and burning fat pervades the air, +nobody seems to mind that, for it only increases the delight the Kermis +has in store for them. The stalls are generally set out in two rows. The +most primitive of these is the stall of hard-boiled eggs and pickled +gherkins, whose owner is probably a Jew, and pleasant sounds his hoarse +voice while praising his wares high above all others. If he does prevail +upon you to come and try one of his eggs and gherkins it only adds more +relish to your meal when he tells you of the man who only paid one cent +for a large gherkin which really cost two, and although he already had +put it in his mouth he made him put the other part back. Or when you go +to eat 'poffertjes,' which look so tempting, and with the first bite find +a quid of tobacco in the inoffensive-looking little morsel, do not let +this trifling incident disturb your equanimity, but try another booth. It +is quite worth your while to stand in front of a 'poffertjeskraam' and +see how they are made. The batter is simply buckwheat-meal mixed with +water, and some yeast to make it light. Over a bright fire of logs is +placed a large, square, iron baking-sheet with deep impressions for the +reception of the batter. On one side sits a woman on a high stool, with a +bowl of the mixture by her side and a large wooden ladle in her hand. +This she dips into the batter, bringing it out full, then with a quick +sweep of the arm she empties its contents into the hollows of the +baking-sheet. A man standing by turns them dexterously one by one with a +steel fork, and a moment later he pricks them six at a time on to the +fork; this he docs four times to get a plateful, and then he hands it +over to another man inside the booth, who adds a pat of butter and a +liberal sprinkling of sugar. The 'wafelkramen' are not so largely +patronized, as the price of these delicacies is rather too high for the +slender purses of the average 'Kermis houwer,' but 'oliebollen'--round +ball-shaped cakes swimming in oil--are within the reach of all, as they +cost but a cent apiece. Servants and their lovers, after satisfying their +appetites with these 'oliebollen,' go and have a few turns in the +roundabouts by way of a change, and then hurry to the fish stall, where +they eat a raw salted herring to counteract the effects of the earlier +dissipation. The more respectable servant, however, turns up her nose at +the herrings, and goes in for smoked eel. These fish-stalls are very +quaint in appearance, for they are hung with garlands of dried +'scharretje' (a white, thin, leathery-looking fish), which dangle in +front, and form a most original decoration. In the towns a separate day +and evening are set apart for the servant classes to go to the fair, and +there is also a day for the _élite_. + +At the commencement of the reign of King William III. the whole Court, +including the King and Queen, used to meet at The Hague Kermis on the +Lange Voorhout on Thursday afternoons, between two and four o'clock, and +walk up and down between the double row of stalls; and in the evening of +that day they all visited either the most renowned circus of the season or +went to see the 'Kermis stuk,' or special play acted in fan-time. + +The servants' evening, as it is held in Rotterdam, is the most +characteristic. It is an evening shunned by the more respectable people, +for the 'Kermisgangers are a very rowdy lot. They amuse themselves chiefly +by running along the streets in long rows, arm-in-arm, singing +'Hossen--hossen-hossen!' They also treat each other to 'Nieuw rood met +suiker'--black currants preserved in gin with sugar--until they are all +quite tipsy, and woe to any quiet pedestrian who has the misfortune to +pass their way, for with loud 'Hi-has' they encircle him and make him +'hos' with them. The evening is commonly called the 'Aalbessen +(black-currant) hos.' + +[Illustration: Kermis: 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' _(After the Picture of Van +Geldrop_)] + +An equally curious but not so bad a custom is the Groninger 'Koek eten.' +All Groningers are fond of cake, and the 'Groninger kauke' is a widespread +and very tasty production; but for this special purpose is used the +'ellekoek,' a very long thin cake, which, as its name implies, is sold by +the yard. It is very tough, and just thin enough to hold in a large mouth, +and when a man chooses a girl to keep Kermis with him they must first see +whether they will suit one another as 'Vryer and Vryster' by eating +'ellekoek.' This is done in the following manner. They stand opposite one +another, and each begins at an end and eats towards the other. They may +not touch the cake with their hands, but must hold it between their teeth +all the while they are eating, and if they are unable to accomplish this +feat and kiss when they get to the middle it is a sure sign that they are +not suited to one another, and so the partnership is not concluded. In +some parts of Friesland and in Voorburg, one of the many villages near The +Hague, there is another cake custom, the 'Koekslän,' which is a sort of +cake lottery. The cakes are all put out on large blocks, which are higher +at the sides than in the middle, and, for twopence, any one who likes may +try his luck and see if he can break the cake in two by striking it with a +stout stick provided by the stall-keeper for the purpose. It is necessary +to do this in one blow, for a second try involves the payment of another +fee. He who succeeds carries off the broken cake, and receives a second +one as a prize. Some men are very clever at this, and manage to carry off +a good many prizes. + +Just as the Kermis is rung in by the bells, so also it is tolled out +again. This, however, is not an official proceeding, but a custom among +the schoolboys of the Gymnasium and Higher Burgher Schools. At The Hague, +on the last day of the fair, all the 'schooljeugd' assembled in the Lange +Voorhout, dressed in black, just as they would dress for a funeral, while +four of them carried a bier, hung with wreaths and black draperies. On +this bier was supposed to rest all that remained of the Kermis. In front +of the bier walked a boy ringing a large bell, and proclaiming, 'De Kermis +is dood, de Kermis wordt begraven' ('The Kermis is dead, and is going to +be buried'). Behind the bier came all the other boys with the most +mournful expression upon their faces they could muster for the occasion, +and thus they carried the 'dead fair' through the principal streets of the +town, and at last buried it in the 'Scheveningsche Boschjes.' But this +custom is now a thing of the past, for the Kermis at The Hague has been +abolished, even as it has been abolished in most of the other towns +throughout the kingdom, for all authorities were agreed that fair-time +promoted vice and drunkenness, and the old-fashioned Kermis is now only to +be found in Rotterdam, Leyden, Delft, and some of the smaller provincial +towns and villages. + +The 6th of December is the day dedicated to St. Nicholas, and its vigil is +one of the most characteristic of Dutch festivals. It is an evening for +family reunions, and is filled with old recollections for the elders and +new delights for the younger people and children. Just as English people +give presents at Christmas time, so do the Dutch at St. Nicholas, only in +a different way, for St. Nicholas presents must be hidden and disguised as +much as possible, and be accompanied by rhymes explaining what the gift is +and for whom St. Nicholas intends it. Sometimes a parcel addressed to one +person will finally turn out to be for quite a different member of the +family than the one who first received it, for the address on each wrapper +in the various stages of unpacking makes it necessary for the parcel to +change hands as many times as there are papers to undo. The tiniest +things are sent in immense packing-cases, and sometimes the gifts are +baked in a loaf of bread or hidden in a turf, and the longer it takes +before the present is found the more successful is the 'surprise.' + +The greatest delight to the giver of the parcel is to remain unknown as +long as possible, and even if the present is sent from one member of the +family to another living in the same house the door-bell is always rung by +the servant before she brings the parcel in, to make believe that it has +come from some outsider; and if a parcel has to be taken to a friend's +house it is very often entrusted to a passer-by, with the request to leave +it at the door and ring the bell. In houses where there are many children, +some of the elders dress up as the good Bishop St. Nicholas and his black +servant. The children are always very much impressed by the knowledge St. +Nicholas shows of all their shortcomings, for he usually reminds them of +their little failings, and gives them each an appropriate lecture. +Sometimes he makes them repeat a verse to him or asks them about their +lessons, all of which tends to make the moment of his arrival looked +forward to with much excitement and some trembling, for St. Nicholas +generally announces at what time he is to be expected, so that all may be +in readiness for his reception. + +On the eventful evening a large white sheet is laid out upon the floor in +the middle of the room, and round it stand all the children with sparkling +eyes and flushed faces, eagerly scrutinizing the hand of the clock. As +soon as it points to five minutes before the expected time of the Saint's +arrivai they begin to sing songs to welcome him to their midst, and ask +him to give as liberally as was his wont, meanwhile praising his goodness +and greatness in the most eloquent terms. The first intimation the +children get of the Saint's arrival is a shower of sweets bursting in +upon them. Then, amid the general scramble which ensues, St, Nicholas +suddenly makes his appearance in full episcopal vestments, laden with +presents, while in the rear stands his black servant with an open sack in +one hand in which to put all the naughty boys and girls, and a rod in the +other which he shakes vigorously from time to time. When the presents have +all been distributed, and St. Nicholas has made his adieus, promising to +come back the following year, and the children are packed to bed to dream +of all the fun they have had, the older people begin to enjoy themselves. +First they sit round the table which stands in the middle of the room +under the lamp, and partake of tea and 'speculaas,' until their own +'surprises' begin to arrive. At ten O'clock the room is cleared, the +dust-sheet which was laid down for the children's scramble is taken up, +and all the papers and shavings, boxes and baskets that contained presents +are removed from the floor; the table is spread with a white table-cloth; +'letterbanket' with hot punch or milk chocolate is provided for the +guests; and, when all have taken their seats, a dish of boiled chestnuts, +steaming hot, is brought in and eaten with butter and salt. + +Cigars, the usual resource of Dutchmen when they do not know what to do +with themselves, do not form a feature of this memorable evening +(memorable for this fact also), not so much out of deference to the ladies +who are in their midst as for the reason that they are too fully occupied +with other and even pleasanter employments. + +[Illustration: St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th.] + +The personality of St. Nicholas, as now known by Dutch children, is of +mixed origin, for not merely the Bishop of Lycië, but Woden, the Frisian +god of the elements and of the harvest, figures largely in the legends +attached to his name. Woden possessed a magic robe which enabled him +when arrayed in it to go to any place in the world he wished in the +twinkling of an eye. This same power is attached to the 'Beste tabbaard' +of St. Nicholas, as may be seen from the verse addressed to him:-- + + + 'Sint Niklaas, goed, heilig man + Trek je beste tabberd an + Ryd er mee naar Amsterdam + Van Amsterdam naar Spanje.' + + [St. Nicholas, good, holy man + Put on your best gown + Ride with it to Amsterdam, + From Amsterdam to Spain.] + +The horse Sleipnir, on whose back Woden took his autumn ride through the +world, has been converted into the horse of St. Nicholas, on which the +Saint rides about over the roofs of the houses to find out where the good +and where the naughty children live. In pagan days a sheaf of corn was +always left out on the field in harvest time for Woden's horse, and the +children of the present day still carry out the same idea by putting a +wisp of hay in their shoes for the four-footed friend of the good Saint. +The black servant who now always accompanies St. Nicholas is an +importation from America, for the Pilgrim Fathers carried their St. +Nicholas festival with them to the New Country, and some of their +descendants who came to live in Holland brought 'Knecht Ruprecht' with +them, and so added another feature to the St. Nicholas festivity. + +What the Dutch originally knew of the life and works of 'Dominus Sanctus +Nicolaus' was told them by the Spaniards at the time of their influence in +Holland, and so it is believed that the Saint was born at Myra, in Lycie, +and lived in the commencement of the fourth century, in the reign of +Constantine the Great. From his earliest youth he showed signs of great +piety and self-denial, refusing, it is said, even when quite a tiny child, +to take food more than once a day on fast days! His whole life was devoted +to doing good, and even after his death he is credited with performing +many miracles. Maidens and children chiefly claim him as their patron +saint, but he also guards sailors, and legend asserts that many a ship on +the point of being wrecked or stranded has been saved by his timely +influence. During his lifetime the circumstance took place for which he +was ever afterwards recognized as the maidens' guardian. A certain man had +lost all his money, and to rid himself from his miserable situation he +determined to sell his three beautiful daughters for a large sum. St. +Nicholas heard of his intention, and went to the man's house in the night, +taking with him some of the money left him by his parents, and dropped it +through a broken window-pane. The following night St. Nicholas again took +a purse of gold to the poor man's house, and managed to drop it through +the chimney, but when he reached the man's door on the third night it was +suddenly opened from the inside, and the poor man rushed out, caught St. +Nicholas by his robe, and, falling down on his knees before him, +exclaimed, 'O Nicholas, servant of the Lord, wherefore dost thou hide thy +good deeds?' and from that time forth every one knew it was St. Nicholas +who brought presents during the night. In pictures one often sees St. +Nicholas represented with the threefold gift in his hand, in the form of +three golden apples, fruits of the tree of life. Another very well known +Dutch picture is St. Nicholas standing by a tub, from which are emerging +three bags. About fifty years ago such a picture was to be seen in +Amsterdam on the corner house between the Dam and the Damrak, with the +inscription, 'Sinterklaes.' The story runs that three boys once lost their +way in a dark wood, and begged a night's lodging with a farmer and his +wife. While the children were asleep the wicked couple murdered them, +hoping to rob them of all they had with them, but they soon discovered +that the lads had no treasure at all, and so, to guard against detection, +they salted the dead bodies, and put them in the tub with the pigs' flesh. +That same afternoon, while the farmer was at the market, St. Nicholas +appeared to him in his episcopal robes, and asked him whether he had any +pork to sell. The man replied in the negative, when St. Nicholas rejoined, +'What of the three young pigs in your tub? 'This so frightened the farmer +that he confessed his wicked deed, and implored forgiveness. St. Nicholas +thereupon accompanied him to his house, and waved his staff over the +meat-tub, and immediately the three boys stepped forth well and hearty, +and thanked St. Nicholas for restoring them to life. + +The birch rod, which naughty Dutch children have still to fear, has also a +legendary origin, and is not merely an imaginary addition to the +attributes of the Saint. A certain abbot would not allow the responses of +St. Nicholas to be sung in his church, notwithstanding the repeated +requests of the monks of his order, and he dismissed them at last with the +words, 'I consider this music worldly and profane, and shall never give +permission for it to be used in my church.' These words so enraged St. +Nicholas that he came down from the heavens at night when the abbot was +asleep, and, dragging him out of bed by the hair of his head, beat him +with a birch rod he carried in his hand till he was more dead than alive. +The lesson proved salutary, and from that day forth the responses of St. +Nicholas formed a part of the service. + +The St. Nicholas festival has always been kept with the greatest splendour +at Amsterdam. It was there that the festival was first instituted, and the +first church built which was dedicated to his name; for when Gysbrecht +III., Heer van Amstel, had the Amstel dammed, many people came to live +there, and houses arose up on all sides, and naturally, when the want of a +church was felt, and it was built, the good Nicholas was chosen the patron +Saint of the town. On his name-day masses were held in the church, and the +usual Kermis observed, Booths and stalls were set out in two rows all +along the Damrak, where the people of Amsterdam could buy sweets and toys +for their children. Special cakes were baked in the form of a bishop, and +named, after St. Nicholas, 'Klaasjes.' They were looked upon as an +offering dedicated to the Saint according to the old custom of their +forefathers, which can be again traced to the service of Woden. + +Not only Amsterdammers, however, but people from all the neighbouring +towns flocked to the St. Nicholas market, and followed the Amsterdammers' +example of filling their children's shoes with cakes and toys, always +telling them the old legend that St. Nicholas himself brought these +presents through the chimney and put them in their shoes. During and after +the Reformation this now popular festival had to bear a great deal of +opposition, for authors and preachers alike agreed that it was a foolish +feast, and led to superstition and idolatry. Hence the decree was issued, +in the year 1622, that no cakes might be baked and no Kermis held, and +even the children were forbidden to put out their shoes as they were +accustomed to do. But for once in a way people were sensible enough to +understand that giving their children a pleasant evening had nothing to do +either with superstition or idolatry, and so the festival lived on with +Protestants as well as Roman Catholics, although one point was gained by +the Reformers, in that St. Nicholas was no longer looked upon as holy and +worshipped, but was only honoured as the patron Saint and guardian of +their children. + +The fairs which once belonged to the festival of St. Nicholas are no +longer held in the street, at any rate in the larger towns, but the +exchange of presents is as universal as ever, and the shops look as +festive as shops in England do at Christmas-time. In many other ways, +indeed, St. Nicholas corresponds to Christmas in other countries, and +Protestants and Catholics alike observe it, although there is no religions +significance in the festival. The season, too, has its special cakes and +sweets. There are the flat hard cakes, made in the shapes of birds, +beasts, and fishes--the so-called 'Klaasjes'--for they are no longer baked +only in the form of a bishop, as they used to be. Then there is +'Letterbanket,' made, as the name implies, in the form of letters, so that +any one who likes can order his name in cake, and the 'Marsepein' +(marzipan) is now made in all possible shapes, though formerly only in +heart-shaped sweets, ornamented with little turtle-doves made of pink +sugar, or a flaming heart on a little altar. These sweets, it is said, +were invented by St. Nicholas himself, when he was a bishop, for the +benefit and use of lovers; for St. Nicholas held the office of +'Hylik-maker,' and many a couple were united by him. That is why the +confectioners bake 'Vryers and Vrysters' of cake at St. Nicholas time. If +a young man wanted to find out whether a girl cared for him, he used to +send her a heart of 'Marsepein' and a 'Vryer' of cake. Should she accept +this present he knew he had nothing to fear, but if she declined to accept +it he knew there was no hope for him in that quarter. These large dolls of +cake were usually decorated with strips of gold paper pasted over them, +but this fashion has gone out of use, and has caused the death of another +old custom; for it used to be a great treat for children and young people +to go and help the confectioners (who wrote all their customers an +invitation for that evening) on the 4th of December to prepare their goods +for the 'étalage.' Any cake that broke while in their hands they were +allowed to eat, and no doubt many did break. + +It is not likely that this celebration of St. Nicholas will ever be +abolished, and the shopkeepers do their best to perpetuate it by offering +new attractions for the little folk every year. Figures of St. Nicholas, +life-size, are placed before their windows; and some even have a man +dressed like the good Saint, who goes about the streets, mounted on a +white steed, while behind him follows a cart laden with parcels, which +have been ordered and are left in this way at the different houses. Crowds +of children, singing, shouting, and clapping their hands, follow in the +rear, adding to the noise and bustle of the already crowded streets, but +people are too good-natured at St. Nicholas time to expostulate. Smiling +faces, mirth, and jollity abound everywhere, and good feeling unites all +men as brethren on this most popular of all the Dutch festivals. + + + + +Chapter XI + +National Amusements + + + +Holland, like other countries, is indebted to primitive and classic +times for most of its national amusements and children's games, which +have been handed down from generation to generation. Many of the same +games have been played under many differing Governments and opposing +creeds. Hollander and Spaniard, Protestant and Catholic alike have found +common ground in those games and sports which afford so welcome a break +in daily work. + +'Hinkelbaan,' for example, found its way into the Netherlands from far +Phoenicia, whose people invented it. The game of cockal, 'Bikkelen,' still +played by Dutch village children on the blue doorsteps of old-fashioned +houses, together with 'Kaatsen,' was introduced into Holland by Nero +Claudius Druses, and it is stated that he laid out the first 'Kaatsbaan.' +The Frisian peasant is very fond of this game; and also of 'Kolven,' the +older form of golf; and often on a Sunday morning after church he may be +seen dressed in his velvet suit and low-buckled shoes, engaged in these +outdoor sports. About a century ago a game called 'Malien' was universally +played in South Holland and Utrecht. For this it was necessary to have a +large piece of ground, at one end of which poles were erected, joined +together by a porch. The bail was driven by a 'Mahen kolf,' a long stick +with an iron head and a leather grip, and it had to touch both poles and +roll through the porch. The 'Maheveld' at The Hague and the 'Mahebaan' at +Utrecht remind one of the places in which this game was played. + +In Friesland the Sunday game for youths is 'Het slingeren met +Dimterkoek'--throwing Deventer cake. Four persons are required to play +this game. The players divide themselves into opposite parties, and play +against each other. First they toss up to see which of the parties and +which of the boys shall begin. He on whom the lot falls is allowed to +give his turn to his opponent, which he often does if, on feeling the +cake, he notices that it is soft and liable to break easily. If, on the +contrary, it is hard, he keeps the first throw for himself. Holding the +cake firmly in his right hand, he takes a little run, bends backward, and +with a sudden swing throws the cake forward (as one throws a stone) so +that it flies away a good distance, breaking off just at the grip. This +piece, called 'hanslik,' or handpiece, he must keep in his hand, for if +he drops it he must let his turn pass by once, and his throw is not +counted. The distance of the throw is now measured and noted down, +whereupon one of the opposing party takes the piece of cake and throws +it, and so it goes on alternately till each has had a turn. The distances +of the throws of every two boys are counted together, and the side which +has the most points wins. + +There are also games played only at certain seasons of the year, as the +'Eiergaren' at Easter-time. This was very popular even in the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries. On Easter Monday all the village people betake +themselves to the principal street of the 'dorp' to watch the +'eiergaarder.' At about two o'clock in the afternoon the innkeeper who +provides the eggs appears upon the scene with a basket containing +twenty-five. These he places on the road at equal distances of twelve feet +from each other. In the middle of the road is then placed a tub of water, +on which floats a very large apple, the largest he has been able to +procure. Two men are chosen from the ranks of the villagers. The one is +led to the tub, his hands are tied behind his back, and he is told to eat +the floating apple; the other has to take the basket in his hand and pick +up while running all the eggs and arrange them in the basket before the +apple is eaten. He who finishes his task first is the winner, and carries +off the basket of eggs as a prize. It provokes great fun to see the man +trying to get hold of the floating-apple, which escapes so easily from the +grasp of his teeth, but some men are wise enough to push the apple against +the side of the tub, and of course as soon as they have taken one bite the +rest is easily eaten. When the game is over, the greater number of the +villagers go and drink to the good health of the winner at the +public-house, and so the innkeeper makes a good thing out of this custom +also, and for a game like this it is certainly wise to refresh one's self +_after_ the event. Skittles and billiards are very popular with the +peasant and working classes on Sunday afternoons, the only free time a +labourer has for recreation. Games of chance, also, in which skill is at a +minimum, are as numerous in Holland as in any other country. + +Children's games naturally occupy a large share in young Netherlands life, +especially outdoor romping games. Of indoor games there are very few, a +fact which may, perhaps, be accounted for by the custom of allowing +children to play in the streets. In former days children of all classes +played together in outdoor sports and games, and developed both their +muscles and their republican character. Even Prince Frederik Hendrik (who +was brother to and succeeded Prince Maurits in 1625), when at school at +Leyden, mixed freely with his more humble companions, and was often +mistaken for an ordinary schoolboy, and an old woman once sharply rebuked +him for daring to use her boat-hook to fish his ball out of the water into +which it had fallen. Nor did she notice to whom she was speaking until a +passer-by called her attention to the fact that it was the Prince, +whereupon the poor old soul became so frightened that she durst not +venture out of her house for weeks from imaginary fear of falling into the +clutches of the law, and ending her days in prison. + +Games may be divided into two classes, those played with toys and those +for which no toys are needed; but whatever the games may be they all have +their special seasons. Once a man wrote an almanack on children's games, +and noted down ail the different sports and their seasons, but, as the +poet Huggens truly said, + + 'De kindren weten tyd van knickeren en kooten, + En zonder almanack en ist hen nooit ontschoten,' + +which, freely translated, means that children know which games are in +season by intuition, and do not need an almanack, so he might have saved +himself the trouble. 'The children know the time to play marbles and +"Kooten," and without an almanack have not forgotten.' + +In the eighteenth century driving a hoop was as popular an amusement with +children as it is now, only then it was also a sport, and prizes were +given to the most skilful. In fact, hoop-races were held, and boys and +girls alike joined in them. They had to drive their hoops a certain +distance, and the one who first reached the goal received a silver coin +for a prize. This coin was fastened to the hoop as a trophy, and the more +noise a hoop made while rolling over the streets the greater the honour +for the owner of it, for it showed that a great many prizes had been +gained. In Drenthe the popular game for boys is 'Man ik sta op je +blokhuis,' similar to 'I am the King of the Castle,' but there is also the +'Windspel.' For the latter a piece of wood and a ball are necessary. The +wood is placed upon a pole and the ball laid on one side of it, then with +a stick the child strikes as hard as possible the other side of the piece +of wood, at the same time calling 'W-i-n-d,' and the ball flies up into +the air, and may be almost lost to sight. + +'Boer lap den Buis,' an exciting game from a boy's point of view, is a +general favourite in Gelderland and Overyssel. For this the boys build a +sort of castle with large stones, and after tossing up to see who is to be +'Boer,' the boy on whom the lot has fallen stands in the stone fortress, +and the others throw stones at it from a distance, to see whether they can +knock bits off it. As soon as one succeeds in doing so he runs to get back +his stone, at the same time calling out 'Boer, lap den buis,' signifying +that the 'Boer' must mend the castle. If the 'Boer' accomplishes this, and +touches the bag before he has picked up his stone, they change places, and +the game begins anew. + +Little girls of the labouring classes have not much time for games of any +sort, for they are generally required at home to act as nursemaids and +help in many other duties of the home life, but sometimes on summer +afternoons they bring out their younger brothers and sisters, their +knitting and a skipping-rope, which they take in turns, and so pass a few +pleasant hours free from their share (not an inconsiderable one) of +household cares, or in the evenings, when the younger members of the +family are in bed, they will be quite happy with a bit of rope and their +skipping songs, of which they seem to know many hundreds, and which might +be sung with equal reason to any other game under the sun for all the +words have to do with skipping. + +After a long spell of rain the first fall of snow is hailed with +delight, for it is a sign that frost is not far off. Jack Frost, after +several preliminary appearances in December, usually pays his first long +visit in January (sometimes, however, this is but a flying visit of two +or three days), and, as a rule, a Dutchman may reckon on a good hard +winter. As soon, therefore, as he sees the snow he thinks of the good +old saying--'Sneeuw op slik in drie dagen ys dun of dik' ('Snow on mud +in three days' time, thin or thick'). Ice is to be expected, and he gets +out his skates with all speed. This is one of the few occasions when the +people of the Netherlands are enthusiastic. Certainly skating is _the_ +national sport. The ditches are always the first to be tried, as the +water in them is very shallow, and naturally freezes sooner than the +very deep and exposed waters of river and canal, over which the wind, +which is always blowing in Holland, has fair play; but when once these +are frozen, then skating begins in real earnest. The tracks are all +marked out by the Hollandsche Ysvereeniging, a society which was founded +in 1889 in South Holland, and which the other provinces have now joined. +Finger-posts to point the way are put up by this society at all +cross-roads and ditches, with notices to mark the dangerous places, +while the newspapers of the day contain reports as to which roads are +the best to take, and which trips can be planned. For people living in +South Holland the first trip is always to the Vink at Leyden, as it can +be reached by narrow streams and ditches, and it is quite a sight to see +the skaters sitting at little tables with plates of steaming hot soup +before them. The Vink has been famous for its pea soup many years, and +has been known as a restaurant from 1768. When the Galgenwater is frozen +(the mouth of the Rhine which flows into the sea at Kat wyk), then the +Vink has a still gayer appearance, for not only skaters, but pedestrians +from Leyden and the villages round about that town, flock to this _cafe_ +to watch the skating and enjoy the amusing scenes which the presence of +the ice affords them. Then the broad expanse of water, which in summer +looks so deserted and gloomy as it flows silently and dreamily towards +the sea, is dotted ail over with tents, flags, 'baanvegers,' and, if the +ice is strong, even sleighs. + +Among the peasant classes of South Holland it is the custom, as soon as +the ice will bear, to skate to Gouda, men and women together, there to buy +long Gouda pipes for the men and 'Goudsche sprits' for the women, and then +to skate home with these brittle objects without breaking them. As they +come along side by side, the farmer holding his pipe high above his head +and the woman carefully holding her bag of cakes, every passer-by knocks +against them and tries to upset them, but it seldom happens that they +succeed in doing so, as a farmer stands very firmly on his skates, and, as +a rule, he manages to keep his pipe intact after skating many miles. The +longest trip for the people of South Holland, North Holland, and Utrecht, +is through these three provinces, and the way over the ice-clad country is +quite as picturesque as in summer-time, the little mills, quaint old +drawbridges, and rustic farmhouses losing nothing of their charm in winter +garb. All along the banks of the canals and rivers little tents are put +up to keep out the wind; a roughly fashioned rickety table stands on the +ice under the shelter of the matting, and here are sold all manner of +things for the skaters to refresh themselves with--hot milk boiled with +aniseed and served out of very sticky cups, stale biscuits, and sweet +cake. The tent-holders call out their wares in the most poetical language +they can muster-- + + 'Leg ereis an! Leg ereis an! + In het tentje by de man. + Warme melk en zoete koek + En een bevrozen vaatedoek.' + + ['Put up, put up + At the tent with the man; + Warm milk and sweet cake, + And a frozen dish-cloth.'] + +and they tell you plainly that you may expect unwashed cups, for the cloth +wherewith to wipe them is frozen, as well as the water to cleanse them. + +Under the bridges the ice is not always safe, and even if it has become +safe the men break it up so that they may earn a few cents by people +passing over their roughly constructed gangways, and so boards are laid +down by the 'baanvegers' for the skaters to pass over without risking +their lives. Besides making these wooden bridges, the 'baanvegers' keep +the tracks clean. Every hundred yards or so one is greeted by the +monotonous cry of 'Denk ereis an de baanveger,' so that on long trips +these sweepers are a great nuisance, for having to get out one's purse and +give them cents greatly impedes progress. The Ice Society has, however, +minimized the annoyance by appointing 'baanvegers' who work for it and +are paid out of the common funds, so that the members of the society who +wear their badge can pass a 'baanveger' with a clear conscience, while as +the result of this combination you can skate over miles of good and +well-swept ice without interference for the modest sum of tenpence, this +being the cost of membership of the society for the whole season. + +[Illustration: Skating to Church.] + +The Kralinger Plassen and the Maas near Rotterdam are greatly frequented +spots for carnivals on the ice, but the grandest place for skating and ice +sports of all kinds is the Zuyder Zee. In a severe winter this large +expanse of ice connects instead of dividing Friesland with North Holland. +Here we see the little ice-boats flying over the glossy surface as fast as +a bird on the wing, and sleighs drawn by horses with waving plumes, while +thousands of people flock from Amsterdam to the little Isle of Marken, and +the variety of costume and colour swaying to and fro on the fettered +billows of the restless inland sea makes it seem for the moment as though +the Netherlander's dream had come true, and Zuyder Zee had really become +once more dry land. In winter every one, from the smallest to the +greatest, gives himself up to ice-sports, and even the poor are not +forgotten. In some villages races are proclaimed, for which the prizes are +turfs, potatoes, rice, coals, and other things so welcome to the poor in +cold weather. A racer is appolnted for every poor family, and where there +are no sons big enough to join in the races, a young man of the better +classes generally offers his services, and, when successful, hands his +prize over to the family he undertook to help. + +Skating is second nature with the Dutch, and as soon as a child can walk +it is put upon skates, even though they may often be much too big for it. +Moreover, when the ice is good, winter-time affords recreation for the +working as well as the leisured classes, for the canals and rivers become +roads, and the hard-worked errand-boys, the butchers' and the bakers' boys +manage to secure many hours of delightful enjoyment as they travel for +orders on skates. The milkman also takes his milk-cart round on a sledge, +and the farmers skate to market, saving both time and money, for then +there is no railway fare to be paid, and a really good skater goes almost +as fast as a train in Holland--especially the Frisian farmers, for +Frisians are renowned for their swift skating, and the most famous racer +of the commencement of the nineteenth century, Kornelis Ynzes Reen, skated +four miles in five minutes. + +But although the ice affords, and always has afforded, so much pleasure, +there are periods in history when the frost caused great anxiety to the +people of the Netherlands. The cities Naarden and Dordrecht are easily +reached by water, and when that is frozen it would give any one free +access to the town, and so in time of war frost was a much-dreaded thing. +In the year 1672 this fear was realized, for when the ships of the Geuzen +round about Naarden were stuck fast in the ice, and the Zuyder Zee was +frozen, the enemy, armed with canoes and battle-axes, came over the ice +from the Y and across the Zuyder Zee to Naarden. The best skaters among +the Geuzen immediately volunteered to meet the Spaniards on the ice. They +took only their swords with them, and while the ships' cannon had fair +play from the bulwarks of the vessels over the heads of the Geuzen into +the Spanish ranks, the Geuzen could approach them fearlessly and +unmolested for a hand-to-hand fight. The Spaniards, who, besides being +very heavily armed were very bad skaters, were soon defeated, for they +kept tumbling over each other. The Geuzen pursued them to Amsterdam, and +then returned to their ships, where they were greeted with great +enthusiasm, and, as the thaw set in the next day, they were happily saved +from a renewed attack. + + + + +Chapter XII + +Music and the Theatre + + + +Singing was one of the principal social pastimes of the Dutch nation +during the eighteenth and far into the nineteenth century, and the North +Hollander was especially fond of vocal music. When young girls went to +spend the evening at the house of a friend they always carried with them +their 'Liederboek '--a volume beautifully bound in tortoise-shell covers +or mounted with gold or silver. The songs contained in these books were a +strange mixture of the gay and grave. Jovial drinking-songs or +'Kermisliedjes' would find a place next to a 'Christian's Meditation on +Death.' It was an _olla podrida_, in which everybody's tastes were +considered. Recitations were also a feature of these little gatherings. + +Nowadays these national songs are rarely heard. French, Italian, and +German songs have taken their place, and it is but seldom one hears a real +Dutch song at any social gathering. The 'people,' too, seem to have +forgotten their natural gift of poetry, for the only songs now heard about +the streets are badly translated French or English ditties. If England +brings out a comic song of questionable art, six months later that song +will have made its way to Holland, and will have taken a popular place in +a Dutch street musician's _répertoire;_ it will be whistled in many +different keys by butcher and baker boys, and will be heard issuing +painfully from the wonderful mechanism of the superfluous concertina. For +almost every one in Holland possesses some musical instrument on which he +plays, well or otherwise, when his daily work is over, or on Sunday +evenings at home. And here a notable characteristic of the Dutch higher +classes must be mentioned by way of contrast. Musical though they are, +trained as they generally are both to play and sing well, they yet seldom +exercise their gifts in a friendly, social, after-dinner way in their own +homes. They become, in fact, so critical or so self-conscious that they +prefer to pay to hear music rendered by recognized artists, and so a by no +means inconsiderable element of geniality is lost to the social and +domestic circle. + +The decay of folk-song is the more regrettable, since Holland is rich in +old ballads, some of which, handed down just as the people used to sing +them centuries ago, are quaint, _naïve,_ and exceedingly pretty. The +melodies have all been put to modern harmonies by able composers, and +published for the use of the public. + + 'Het daghet in het oosten, + Het lichtis overal,' + +is a little jewel of poetic feeling, and the melody is very sweet. The +story, like most of the songs of the past troublous centuries, tells of +a battlefield where a young girl goes to seek her lover, but finds him +dead. So, after burying him with her own white hands, with his sword +and his banner by his side, she vows entrance into a convent. The story +is a picture in miniature of the times, and as a piece of literature it +ranks high. + +Music of some sort finds a place in the homes of the poorest, and the +concert, theatre, and opera are as much frequented by the humble of the +land as by the wealthy and noble born. The servant class on their 'evening +out' frequently go to the French opera, and there is not a boy on the +street but is able to whistle some tune from the great modern operas, such +as 'Faust,' 'Lohengrin,' and other standard works. And no wonder, for the +choristers in the operas walk behind fruit-carts all day long, and often +call out their wares in the musical tones learnt while following their +more select profession as public singers. Some, of course, cannot read a +note of music, and the melodies they have to sing have to be drummed, or +rather trumpeted, into their ears. To this end they are placed in a row, +and a man with a large trumpet stands before them and plays the tune over +and over again until they know it off. In the summer-time whole parties of +these Jewish youths--for Jewish they chiefly are--go about the woods on +their Sabbath day singing the parts they take in the operas in the winter +season, and crowds of people flock to hear them, for their voices are +really well worth listening to. + +Concerts are naturally not so largely patronized by the people as are +operas and theatres. In the larger towns of Holland especially theatricals +take a very prominent place in popular relaxation, and even the smaller +towns and villages, should they lack theatres and be unable to get good +theatrical companies to pay them periodical visits, arrange for dramatic +performances by local talent. The popularity of the opera may be judged +from the fact that at Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen, Arnhem +and Utrecht, operas in Dutch and French are regularly given, and +occasionally works in German and even Italian are produced. Money is +scarce in Holland, the people generally have little to spare, so grand +opera-houses, such as are thought necessary in most European cities of any +pretension to culture, are impossible, and the singers can seldom count on +liberal fees. But most of the best works are heard all the same--which, +after all, is the principal thing--and the enjoyment and edification which +result are not less genuine because of the simplicity of the properties +and the humble character of the entire surroundings. + +Yet outdoor music possesses a powerful attraction for the Dutch humbler +classes, as for the same classes in most, if not all, countries; and when +in the summer-time there is music in the Wood at The Hague on Sunday +afternoons or Wednesday evenings, the walks round about the 'Tent' are +alive with servants and their lovers, parading decorously arm-in-arm. +Happy fathers, too, with their wives and children in Sunday best, +perambulate the grounds or rest on the seats amongst the trees and listen +to the 'Bosch-muziek.' People of the better class only are members of the +'Witte Societeit,' and sit inside the green paling to listen to the music +and drink something meanwhile. For it is strange but true, that a Dutchman +never seems thoroughly to enjoy himself unless he has liquid of some sort +at hand, and never feels really comfortable without his cigar. Indeed, if +smoking were abolished from places of public amusement, most Dutchmen +would frequent them no more. In winter concerts are given every other +Wednesday at The Hague--and what is true of The Hague applies to Amsterdam +and all other towns of any size in the country--and the Public Hall is +always packed; but besides these 'Diligentia' concerts there are others +given by various Singing Societies, so that there is variety enough to +choose from. + +In the summer-time there is another attraction besides the Wood for the +people of The Hague, for the season at Scheveningen opens on the 1st of +June, and there is music at the Kurhaus twice a day--in the afternoon on +the terrace of that building, and in the evening in the great hall inside. +On Friday night is given what is called a 'Symphony Concert.' To this all +the world flocks, for no one who at all respects himself, or esteems the +opinion of society, would venture to miss it. Whether every one +understands or enjoys the high class music given is another question, +which it would be imprudent to press too urgently, but then it belongs to +'education' to go to concerts, and so all enjoy it in their own way. For +the townspeople and the working-classes, who have no free time during the +week, concerts are given at the large Voorhout on the Sunday evenings in +summer, so that on that day even the busiest and poorest may enjoy +recreation of a better kind than the public-house offers them, and this +effort on their behalf is greatly appreciated by the people, who gladly +make use of the opportunities of hearing good and popular music. + +The national love of music is assiduously fostered by the Netherlands +Musical Union, whose branches are to be found all over the country. Every +town has musical and singing societies of some kind--private as well as +public--and these make life quite endurable in winter, even in the +smallest places. Nor do these 'Zangvereenigingen' derive their membership +exclusively from the higher classes, for the humbler folk have +organizations of their own. Even the servant girl and the day-labourer +will often be found to belong to singing clubs of some kind. Music is also +taught at most of the public schools, though it was long before the +Government capitulated upon the point, and gave this subject a place side +by side with drawing as part of the normal curriculum of the children of +the people. + +Happily for the musical and dramatic tastes of the nation, both the +concert and the theatre are cheap amusements in Holland. As a rule, the +dearest seats cost only from 3s. to 5s., while the cheapest, even in +first-class houses at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, cost as little +as sixpence. The only exceptions are when renowned artists tour the +country, and even then the prices seldom exceed £1 for the best places. +There is one musical event which makes a more serious call upon the purse, +and it is the periodical operatic performance of the Wagner Society in +Amsterdam. As a rule, two representations a year are given, and some of +the best singers of Europe are invited to sing in one or other of Wagner's +operas. The best Dutch orchestra plays, and chosen voices from the +Amsterdam Conservatoire take part in the choruses. The scenery is worthy +of Bayreuth itself, and such expense and care are bestowed upon these +choice performances that, though the house is invariably filled on every +occasion, the fees for admission never pay the costs, so that the musical +enthusiasts of Amsterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague regularly make up the +deficit each year, which sometimes amounts to as much as £1000. + +While, however, the Dutch may with truth be classed as a distinctly +musical nation, they would seem to have outlived their fame in the domain +of musical art. For it should not be forgotten that Holland has in this +respect a distinguished history behind it. So long ago as the times of +Pope Adrian I. a Dutch school of music was established under the tuition +of Italian masters, and it compared favourably with the contemporary +schools of other nations. Even in the ninth century Holland produced a +composer famous in the annals of music in the person of the monk Huchbald +of St. Amand, in Flanders. He it was who changed the notation, and +arranged the time by marking the worth of each note, and he is also +remembered for his 'Organum,' the oldest form of music written in +harmonies. It is often lamented that the compositions of to-day lack the +originality which marked the earlier works. The country has none the less +produced some noticeable composers during the past century. Of these J. +Verhuïst, W.F.G. Nicolal, Daniël de Lange, Richard Hol, and G. Mann are +best known, though of no modern composer can it be said that he has any +special 'cachet,' for the younger men, fed as they are on the works of +other nations, grow into their style of thinking and writing, and follow +almost slavishly in their footsteps. It is unfortunate that many rising +composers cannot be persuaded to publish their works. The reason is that +the cost of publishing in the Netherlands is almost fabulous, and if they +do publish them at all it is done in Germany. But even then the +circulation is so limited, owing to the smallness of the country, that it +does not repay the cost; and so they prefer to plod on unknown, or to +cultivate celebrity by giving private concerts of their own works. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +Schools and School Life + + + +If the Dutch peasant is not generally well educated it is not for want of +opportunity, but rather because he has not taken what is offered him. For +many years past a good elementary education has been within the reach of +all. Even the small fees usually asked may be remitted in the case of +those parents who cannot afford to pay anything, without entailing any +civil disability; but attendance at school was only made compulsory by an +Act which passed the Second Chamber in March, 1900, and which, at the time +of writing, has just come into force. It is said that as many as sixty +thousand Dutch children are getting no regular schooling. About one half +of this number live on the canal-boats, and will probably give a good deal +of trouble to those who will administer the new Act; for, as we have +already seen, the families that these boats belong to have no other homes +and are always on the move, so that it must ever be difficult to get hold +of the children, especially as their parents do not see the necessity of +sending them to school. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether any +great improvement will resuit from the new Act, especially as private +tuition may take the place of attendance at a school, and exemption is +granted to those who have no fixed place of abode, and to parents who +object to the tuition given in all the schools within two and a half miles +of their homes. Under these conditions it seems that any one who wishes to +evade the law will have little difficulty in doing so. The canal-boat +people, apparently, are exempt so long as they do not remain for +twenty-eight days consecutively in the same 'gemeente,' or commune. + +The education provided by the State is strictly neutral in regard to +religion and politics, but there are many denominational schools all over +the country. Protestants call theirs 'Bible schools,' and Romanists call +theirs 'Catholic schools,' and both these receive subsidies from the State +if they satisfy the inspectors. Private schools also exist, but do not as +a rule receive State aid. They are all, however, under State supervision +and subject to the same conditions as to teachers' qualifications; and a +very good rule is in force, namely, that no one may teach in Holland +without having passed a Government examination. + +Instruction in the elementary schools supported by Government is in two +grades, though the dividing line is not always clearly drawn. In +Amsterdam, for example, there are four different grades. In the lower +schools the subjects taught are, besides reading, writing, and +arithmetic, grammar and history, geography, natural history and botany, +drawing, singing and free gymnastics, and the girls also learn +needlework, but a large proportion of the pupils are satisfied with a +more modest course, and know little more than the three R's. The children +attending these schools are between six and twelve years of age, though +in some rural districts few of them are less than eight years old, but +according to the new law they must begin to attend when they are seven +and go on until they are twelve or thirteen according to the standard +attained. In the upper grade schools the same subjects are taught in a +more advanced form, with the addition of universal history, French, +German, and English. These languages, being optional, are taught more or +less after regular school hours. + +All the teachers in these schools must hold teachers' or head-teachers' +certificates, to gain which they have to pass an examination in all the +subjects which they are to teach except languages, for each of which a +separate certificate is required. Every commune must have a school, though +hitherto no one has been obliged to attend it, and lately, owing to the +new Education Act, the builders have been busy in many places enlarging +the schools to meet the new requirements. If there are more than forty +children two masters are now necessary, and for more than ninety there +must be at least three. Ten weeks' holidays are allowed in the year, and +these are to be given when the children are most wanted to help at home, +in addition to which leave of absence may be granted in certain cases by +the district inspectors. Holidays, therefore, vary according to the +conditions of a town or village. + +All schools are more or less under State control. They are divided into +three classes according to the type of education which they provide. Lower +or elementary education has already been dealt with. Between this and the +higher education of the 'Gymnasia' and Universities comes what is called +'middelbaar onderwijs'--that is, secondary, or rather intermediate, +education. This is represented by technical or industrial schools, +'Burgher night schools,' and 'Higher burgher schools.' The first named +train pupils for various trades and crafts, more especially for those +connected with the principal local industries. The course is three years +or thereabouts, following on that of the elementary schools, and there is +generally an entrance examination, but the conditions vary in different +communes. Sometimes the instruction is free, sometimes fees are charged +amounting to a few shillings a year, the cost being borne by the communes, +and in a few towns there are similar schools for girls who have passed +through the elementary schools. The technical classes for girls cover such +subjects as fancy-work, drawing and painting of a utilitarian character, +and sometimes book keeping and dress-making. Most of them are free, but +for some special subjects a small payment is required. Drawing seems to be +a favourite subject, and in most of these technical schools there are +classes for mechanical drawing as well as for some kind of artistic work +connected with industry. In addition there are numerous art schools, some +of them being devoted to the encouragement of fine art, while in others +the object kept in view is the application of art to industry. + +The 'Burgher night schools,' like the technical schools, are supported by +the communes in which they are situated. There are about forty of them in +all, and most of them are very well attended, in some cases the regular +students, who are all working men and women, number several hundreds. The +instruction is similar to that given in the technical schools, that is to +say, it is chiefly practical, and local industries receive special +attention. Formerly there were day schools also for working men, on the +same lines as these, but they were not a success, and the technical +schools have taken their place. + +Of a higher class, but still included in the term 'middelbaar onderwijs,' +is the 'modern' education of the 'higher burgher' schools. The majority of +these schools were founded by the communes, the rest by the State, but +internally they are ail alike, and all are inspected by commissioners +appointed by the Government for the purpose. Pupils enter at twelve years +of age, and must pass an entrance examination, which, like nearly every +examination in Holland, is a Government affair. Having passed this, they +attend school for five years, as a rule, but at some of these institutions +the course lasts only three years. In some degree the 'higher burgher' +schools correspond to the modern side of an English school: at least the +subjects are much the same, embracing mathematlcs, natural science, modern +languages and commercial subjects, and no Latin or Greek is taught. The +education is wholly modern and practical, with the object of preparing +pupils for commercial life. There are 'higher burgher' schools for girls +as well as for boys, at which nearly the same education is provided. + +A great advantage of these schools is that they are very cheap; at the +most expensive the yearly fees amount to a little more than thirty pounds, +but at the majority they only come to four or five. To teach in such +schools as these one must have a diploma or a University degree. A +separate diploma is necessary for each subject, and the examination is not +easy. Even a foreigner who wishes to teach his own language must pass the +same examination as a Dutchman. No difference is made between the masters +at the boys' schools and the ladies who teach the girls; exactly the same +diplomas are required in both cases. + +The 'Gymnasia,' to which allusion has been made, are classical schools, +which prepare boys for the Universities. The age of entry is the same as +at the modern schools, twelve; but the course is longer, as a rule +covering six years instead of five, and at the end of this course comes a +Government examination, the passing of which is a necessary preliminary +to a University degree. The 'Gymnasia' were founded by an Act of +Parliament, but are supported by the communes, which in this case are the +larger towns, but they are assisted, as a rule, by a Government grant. The +fees are very small, only about, £8 a year. + +There are a few private and endowed schools, which may send up candidates +for the same examinations as are taken by the pupils of the State schools, +and it is among these that we find the only boarding schools in the +country. Some of these have certain privileges; for instance, the +headmaster may engage assistants who do not hold diplomas, which makes it +easier for him to get native teachers for modern languages; but in the +State schools proper, the selection of undermasters does not rest with the +head, or director, as he is called, at all. Foreign teachers are not very +plentiful, as the diplomas are not easy to get, and a native, who has to +relearn much of his own language from a Dutch point of view, has little or +no advantage over a Dutchman in the examinations. + +No sketch of Dutch schools would be complete without some reference to the +way in which modern languages are studied, for this is the most striking +feature in the national education, and is of great importance when we are +considering the national life and character of Holland. Former generations +of Dutchmen won a place among the 'learned nations' by their knowledge of +the classical languages; and their descendants seem to have inherited the +gift of tongues, but make a more practical use of it. French, German, +English, and Dutch, which go by the name of 'de vier Talen,' or 'the four +languages,' have taken the place of Greek and Latin. In the 'Gymnasia' +every pupil learns to speak them as a matter of course, and in the 'higher +burgher' schools the same languages receive special attention, with a view +to commercial correspondence. Even in the upper elementary schools, boys +and girls are taught some or all of them. A boy entering one of the higher +schools at the age of twelve or thirteen generally has some knowledge of, +at least, one foreign language, acquired either at an elementary school, +or at home, and he is never shy of displaying that knowledge. If his +parents are well off, he has probably learned to speak French or English +in the nursery, and it sometimes happens that he even speaks Dutch with a +French or an English accent, having been brought up on the foreign +language and acquired his native longue later. German as a rule is not +begun so soon, the idea being that its resemblance to Dutch makes it +easier, which is no doubt true to a certain extent. The result, however, +is very often that the easiest language of the three is the one least +correctly spoken. + +As in all Continental countries, there is nothing in Holland corresponding +to the English public school System. The 'Gymnasia' prepare boys for the +Universities, and the 'higher burgher' schools train them for commercial +life and some professions, somewhat in the same way as English modern +schools, but there the resemblance ends. As a rule, a Dutch boy's school +life is limited to the hours he spends at lessons; the rest of the day +belongs rather to home life. There are a few boarding schools in Holland, +but the life in such schools in the two countries is different in almost +every respect. The size of the schools may have something to do with this, +though by itself it is not enough to account for the difference. A Dutch +head-master once drew my attention to the lack of tradition in his own and +other schools in the country, and expressed a hope that time might work a +change. At present there is little sign of such a change. Tradition has +hardly had time to grow up yet, for few of the existing schools are much +more than twenty years old, and its growth is retarded by the small +numbers, which make any widespread freemasonry among old boys impossible. +But there is another and more serious obstacle. The uniform control which +the Government exercises over ail schools alike, State, endowed, or +private, whatever advantages it may have, certainly hinders the +development of that individuality which makes 'the old school,' to many an +English boy, something more than a place where he had lessons to do and +was prepared for examinations. + +A rough sketch of the inside of a Dutch school will doubtless be of +interest. One of the few endowed schools in Holland may be taken as fairly +typical of its class, but not of the State schools, though it competes +with these and combines the classical and modern courses. It lies in the +country, near a small village, and in this respect also differs from the +'Gymnasia' and 'higher burgher' schools, which are ail situated in the +larger towns. + +One of the first things which attracts notice is the large number of +masters. It seems at first that there are hardly enough boys to go round. +This is due to the law, which requires that every master must be qualified +to teach his particular subject either by a University degree or by an +equivalent diploma. Few hold more than two diplomas, and consequently much +of the teaching is done by men who visit this and other schools two or +three times a week. In this particular foundation the three resident +masters are foreigners, but such an arrangement is exceptional. Classes +seldom include more than half a dozen boys, and very often pupils are +taken singly, and therefore each boy receives a good deal of individual +attention. Such a school is divided into six forms or classes, but not +for teaching purposes; the day's work is differently arranged for each +boy, and these classes merely record the results of the last examination. +Some of the lessons last for an hour, but the rest are only three quarters +of an hour long; they make up in number, however, what they lack in +length, amounting to about nine and a half hours a day. Owing to the time +being so much broken up, it may be doubted whether the amount of work done +is any greater here than in an average English school where the aggregate +of working hours is considerably less. Amongst our Dutch friends, however, +and there may be others who share their opinion, the general belief is +that English schoolboys learn very little except athletics. + +With regard to sports and pastimes, these are the only schools in which +any interest is taken or encouragement given therein. Football is played +here on most half-holidays during the winter, and sometimes on Sunday, and +occasionally its place is taken by hockey. It must be admitted that the +standard of play is not very high in either game, though many of the boys +work hard and, with better opportunities, might develop into high-class +players; but as there are only about thirty boys in the school, +competition for places in the teams is not very keen. Rowing has lately +been introduced, not to the advantage of the football eleven. It may be +remarked, by the way, that only Association football is played in Holland; +the Rugby game is strictly barred by head-masters and parents as too +dangerous. Attempts have been made to introduce cricket, but the game +meets with little encouragement. There is a lawn-tennis court, however, +which is constantly in use during the summer term. Bicycling is very +popular, not only here, but in Holland generally; in fact, most of the +boys seem to prefer this form of exercise to any of the games which have +been mentioned. + +Whether at work or play, all the boys are under the constant supervision +of one or other of the resident masters, and the head is not far off. A +few of the seniors are allowed to go outside the grounds when they please, +but the rest may only go out under the charge of a master. In spite of +this apparently strict supervision, however, there is not much real +discipline. Corporal punishment is not allowed; both public opinion and +the law of the land are against it. Other punishments, such as detention +and impositions, are ineffectual, and are generally regarded by the +culprit as unjustly interfering with his liberty. Consequently the masters +have not much hold over the boys, who might, if they chose, perpetrate +endless mischief without fear of painful consequences so long as they did +nothing to warrant expulsion; but the young Hollander does not appear to +have much enterprise in that direction. Perhaps he is sometimes kept out +of mischief by his devotion to the fragrant weed, for he generally learns +to smoke at a tender age, with his parents' consent, and no exception is +taken to his cigar except during lessons; but it is certainly startling to +see the boys smoking while playing their games, as well as on all other +possible occasions. + +A large proportion of the boys at the 'Gymnasia,' perhaps the majority of +them, pass on to the Universities, some to qualify for the learned +professions, others because it is the fashion in Holland as in other +countries for young men who have no intention of following any profession +to spend a few years at a University in search of pleasure and experience; +but the experience in this case is peculiar and unique. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +The Universities + + + +As to the Universities themselves, it is not necessary to consider them +separately, as all four of them, Leyden, Groningen, Utrecht and Amsterdam, +are alike in constitution. They are not residential, there are no +beautiful buildings, there are no rival colleges, no tutors or proctors, +and no 'gate;' nor are they independent corporations like Oxford and +Cambridge and Durham, for, though they retain some outward forms which +recall a former independence, they are now maintained and managed entirely +by the State, which pays the professors and provides the necessary +buildings. The subjects to be taught and the examinations to be held in +the various faculties are laid down by statute. Consequently the +Universities show the same want of individuality as the schools, and, to +an outsider at least, there seems to be nothing of the 'Alma Mater' about +them under the present _régime,_ and no real ground for preferring any one +of them to the others. At the same time, fathers usually send their sons +to the Universities at which they themselves have studied, except when +they and the professors happen to hold very different political opinions, +but such a custom may be due as much to the national love of order and +regularity as to any real attachment to a particular University. As to +the political opinions of professors, their influence on the students +cannot be very great in the majority of cases, being limited to the effect +produced by lectures, for there is no social intercourse between teacher +and taught. The professors, though very learned men, do not enjoy any +great social standing, and the title does not carry with it anything like +the same rank as in some other countries. + +The system on which these Universities work may be a sound and logical one +so far as it goes, and more up-to-date than the English residential +system, which its enemies deride as mediæval and monastic; but it is a +cast iron system, designed with the object of preparing men for +examinations, and one which does nothing to discover promising scholars or +to encourage original work and research among those who have taken their +degrees, or, according to the Dutch phrase, have gained their 'promotion'. +There are no scholarships, nor anything that might serve the same purpose, +though some such institution could hardly find a more favourable soil than +that of Holland. Instruction of a very learned and thorough character is +offered to those who will and can receive it, and that is all. The classes +are open to all who pay the necessary fees, which are trifling, though the +degree of Doctor may only be granted to those who have passed the +'Gymnasium' final or an equivalent examination, and, provided he makes +these payments, a student is free to do as he pleases, so far as his +University is concerned. + +Discipline there is none, except in very rare cases, when the law provides +for the expulsion of offenders; only theological candidates are indirectly +restrained from undue levity by having to get a certificate of good +conduct at the end of their course. There is no chapel to keep, for the +student's religion and morals are entirely his own concern; there are no +'collections,' for if a man does not choose to read he injures no one but +himself by his idleness; and there is no Vice-Chancellor's Court, for in +theory students are on the same footing as other people before the law, +though in practice the police seldom interfere with them more than they +can help. It is not surprising that young men not long from school should +sometimes abuse such exceptional freedom, but their ideas of enjoyment are +rather strange in foreign eyes. One of their favourite amusements seems to +be driving about the town and neighbourhood in open carriages. On special +occasions all the members of a club turn out, wearing little round caps of +their club colours, and accompanied as likely as not by a band, and drive +off in a procession to some neighbouring town, where they dine; in the +night or next morning they return, all uproariously drunk, singing and +shouting, waving flags and flinging empty wine-bottles about the road. I +do not wish to imply that all Dutch students behave in this way, but such +exhibitions are unfortunately not uncommon, and show to what lengths +'freedom' is permitted to go. + +There is a limit, however, even to the liberty of students, as appears +from the following anecdote. One of these young men gave a wine-party in +his lodgings, and some one proposed, by way of a lark, to wake up a young +woman who lived in the house opposite, and fetch her out of bed, so a +rocket was produced and fired through the open window. The bombardment had +the desired effect, but it also set the house on fire, and the joker's +father was called on to make good the damage. Then the police took the +matter up, and the culprit got several weeks' imprisonment for arson, +after which he returned to the University and resumed his interrupted +studies. There was no question of rustication, as the court simply +inflicted the penalty laid down in the Code, and there was no other +authority that had power to interfere in the matter at all. + +As may well be imagined, students are not generally popular with the +townsfolk, who resent the unequal treatment of the two classes, not +because they wish for the same measure of license, but because anything +like rowdiness contrasts strongly with their own habits; and extravagance, +not an uncommon failing among students in Holland or elsewhere, is +absolutely repugnant to the average Dutch citizen. This feeling of +resentment seems to be growing, and has already had some slight effect +upon the civil authorities; if the students find some day that they have +lost their privileged position, they will have only themselves to thank, +and certainly the change will do them no harm. + +But though a certain number go to the Universities merely to amuse +themselves or to be in the fashion, most of them work well, even if they +do not attend lectures regularly all through their course. In some +faculties private coaching offers a quicker and easier way to 'promotion' +than the more orthodox one through the class-rooms. No doubt there are +some who are in no hurry to leave the attractions of student life, but not +many cling to them so persistently as a certain Dutch student, to whom a +relative bequeathed a liberal allowance, to be paid him as long as he was +studying for his degree. He became known as 'the eternal student,' to the +great wrath of the heirs who waited for the reversion of his legacy. For +most men the ordinary course is long enough, for it averages perhaps six +or seven years, though there is no fixed time, and candidates may take the +examinations as soon as they please. The nominal course--that is, the time +over which the lectures extend--varies in the different faculties, from +four years in law to seven or eight in medicine, but very few men manage, +or attempt, to take a degree in law in four years. The other faculties are +theology, science, including mathematics, and literature and philosophy. + +The degree of Doctor is given in these five faculties, and to obtain it +two examinations must be passed, the candidate's and the doctoral. After +passing the latter a student bears the title _doctorandus_ until he has +written a book or thesis and defended it _viva voce_ before the +examiners. He is then 'promoted' to the degree, a ceremony which +generally entails, indirectly, a certain amount of expense. It appears to +be the correct thing for the newly-made doctor to drive round in state, +adorned with the colours of his club and attended by friends gorgeously +disguised as lacqueys, and leave copies of his book at the houses of the +professors and his club fellows, after which he, of course, celebrates +the occasion in the invariable Dutch fashion, with a dinner. Many +students, however, are not qualified to try for a degree, not having been +through the 'Gymnasia,' and others do not wish to do so. Sometimes the +candidate's examination qualifies one to practise a profession, and is +open to all, in other cases, in the faculty of medicine for example, it +gives no qualification, and is only open to candidates for the degree, +but then there is another, a 'professional' examination, for those who do +not aim at the ornamental title. + +The cost of living at the Universities naturally depends very much on the +student's tastes and habits. He pays to the University only 200 florins +(_£16 13s 4d_) a year for four years, after which he may attend lectures +free of charge, so the minimum annual expenditure is small; but it should +be borne in mind that the course is about twice as long as in England. A +good many students live with their families, which is cheaper than living +in lodgings; and as nearly all classes are represented, there is a +considerable difference in their standards of life. Some are certainly +extravagant, as in all Universities, which tends to raise prices, but, on +the other hand, many of them are men whose parents can ill afford the +expense, but are tempted by the value which attaches to a University +career in Holland, and these bring the average down. Between these two +extremes there are plenty who do very well on £150 or so a year, and £200 +is probably considered a sufficiently liberal allowance by parents who +could easily afford a larger sum. Even the students' corps need not lead +to any great expense, as it consists of a number of minor clubs, and +nearly every one joins it, so that the pace is not always the same; +students who wish to keep their expenses down naturally join with friends +who are similarly situated, leaving the more extravagant clubs to the +young bloods who have plenty of money to spare. + +The corps is the only tie which holds the students together where there +are no colleges, and athletics play but a very small part. Each University +has its corps, to which all the students belong except a few who take no +part in the typical student life, and are known as the 'boeven,' or +'knaves.' A Rector and Senate are elected annually from among the members +of four or five years' standing to manage the affairs of the corps. In +order to become a member, a freshman, or 'green,' as he is called in +Holland, has to go through a rather trying initiation, which lasts for +three or four weeks. Having given in his name to the Senate, he must call +on the members of the corps and ask them to sign their names in a book, +which is inspected by the Senate from time to time, and at each visit he +comes in for a good deal of 'ragging,' for, as he may not go away until +he has obtained his host's signature, he is completely at the mercy of his +tormentors. If he does not obey their orders implicitly and give any +information they may require about his private affairs, he is likely to +have a bad time, but as long as he is duly submissive he is generally let +off with a little harmless fooling. One 'green,' a shy and retiring youth, +who did not at all relish the impertinent inquiries which were made into +his morals and family history, was made to stand at the window and give a +full and particular account of himself to the passers-by, with interesting +details supplied by the company. Sometimes, however, the joking is more +brutal and less amusing. For instance, as a punishment for shirking the +bottle, the victim was compelled to kneel on the floor with a funnel in +his mouth, while his tormentors poured libations down his throat. + +When the 'green time' is over the new members of the corps are installed +by the Rector, and drive round the town in procession, finishing up, of +course, with a club dinner. The corps has its head-quarters in the +Students' Club, which corresponds more or less to the 'Union' at an +English University, though differing from the latter in two important +respects: first, there are no debates, and secondly, the members are +exclusively students, for, as I have already noticed, there is no social +intercourse between the professors and their pupils. The reading-rooms at +the club are a favourite lounge of a great many of the students, but it +must be admitted that the literature supplied there is not always of a +very wholesome kind, seeing that it includes 'realism' of the most daring +description, with illustrations to match, and obscene Parisian comic +papers. Every member of the corps also belongs to one of the minor clubs +of which it is made up, and which are apparently nothing more than +messes, very often with only a dozen members, or less. + +A few sport clubs exist, also under the control of the corps, but they do +not play a very prominent part, for the taste for athletic exercises is +confined to a small minority. Considering the small number of players, the +proficiency attained in the exotic games of football and hockey is +surprisingly high. The rowing is even better, and attracts a larger +number, being perhaps more suited to the physical characteristics of the +race than those games for which agility is more necessary than weight and +strength. Boat-races are held annually between the several Universities, +in which the form of the crews is generally very good. If I am not +mistaken, some of the Dutch crews that have rowed at Henley represented +University clubs. The typical student, however, though well enough endowed +with bone and muscle, has no ambition whatever to become an athlete, or to +submit to the fatigue and self-denial of training. Probably the way he +lives and his aversion to athletics, more than the length of his course of +study, account for his elderly appearance, for he is not only obviously +older than the average undergraduate, but begins to look positively +middle-aged both in face and figure almost before he has done growing. + +Before leaving the subject of the students' corps, mention must be made +of the great carnival which each corps holds every five years to +commemorate the foundation of its University. The 'Lustrum-Maskerade,' +which is the chief item in the week of festivities, is a historical +pageant representing some event in the mediæval history of Holland. The +chief actors are chosen from among the wealthiest of the students, and +spare no trouble or expense in preparing their get-up, while the minor +parts are allotted to the various clubs within the corps, each club +representing a company of retainers or men-at-arms in the service of one +of the mock princes or knights. For six days the players retain their +gorgeous costumes and act their parts, even when excursions are made in +the neighbourhood in company with the friends and relatives who come to +join in the commemoration, and the mixture of mediæval and modern +costumes in the streets has a somewhat ludicrous effect. On the first day +the visitors are formally welcomed by the officers of the corps. Former +students of all ages meet their old comrades, and the men of each year, +after dining together, march together to the garden or park where the +reception is held. Anything less like the usual calm and serious +demeanour of these seniors than the way in which they dance and sing +through the town is not to be imagined, for the oldest and most sedate of +them are as wildly and ludicrously enthusiastic as the youngest student; +and their arrival at the reception, with bands of music, skipping about +and roaring student songs like their sons and grandsons, is, to say the +least, comical. But the occasion only comes once in five years, and they +naturally make the most of it. + +The next day the Masquerade takes place, beginning with a procession to +the ground, and is repeated two or three times before huge crowds of +spectators, for the townsmen are as excited as the students and the +relatives, at least on the first two days. Great pains are always taken to +ensure historical correctness in every detail, and the leading parts are +often admirably played, and it must be the unromantic dress of the +lookers-on that spoils the effect and makes one think of a circus. If only +the crowd could be brought into harmony with the masqueraders in the +matter of clothes the illusion might be complete; as it is, one can hardly +imagine for a moment that the knights who charge so bravely down the +lists mean to do one another any serious damage. A tournament is very +often the subject of the pageant, or an important part of it, or sometimes +a challenge and single combat are introduced as a sort of _entr'acte_. For +the last four days of the feast there is no fixed order of procedure; +balls, concerts, garden-parties, and so on are arranged as may be most +convenient, while the intervals are spent in visits, dinners, and drives. +Not until the end of the week does any student lay aside his gay costume +and resume the more prosaic garments of his own times. All through the +week the influence of the corps, which is the life of the University from +the student's point of view, is manifest in the collective character of +all the festivities, everything being done either by the corps itself or +under its direction. From a comparison of this celebration with 'Commem' +week we can, perhaps, gather a very fair idea of the typical points of +difference between the students of Holland and our own country. + + + + +Chapter XV + +Art and Letters + + + +The art of a country is ever in unity with the character of the people. It +reflects their ideas and sentiments; their history is marked in its +progress or decline; and it shows forth the influences that have been at +work in the minds and very life of the nation from which it springs. If +this is true of all countries, it is nowhere so visibly true as in +Holland. There art underwent the most decided changes during the various +periods of war and armed peace through which the little country passed. It +may truly be said that 'the first smile of the young Republic was art, for +it was only after the revolt of the Dutch against the Spanish ... that +painting reached a high grade of perfection.' One is accustomed to take it +for granted too readily that the glory of Dutch art lies in the past; that +the works and fame of a Van Eyck, a Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and +Ruysdael sum up Holland's contribution to the art of the world, and that +this chapter of its history, like the chapters which deal with its +maritime supremacy, its industrial greatness, and its struggles for +liberty, is closed for ever. Nothing could be farther from the fact. Dutch +art was never more virile, more original, more self-conscious than to-day, +when it is represented by a band of men whose genius and enthusiasm +recall the great names of the past. Professer Richard Muther has well +said, in his 'History of Modern Painting,' that, 'so far from stagnating, +Dutch art is now as fresh and varied as in the old days of its glory.' + +The Dutch painters of the present day include, indeed, quite a multitude +of men of the very first rank, and some of them, like the three brothers +Maris, are unexcelled. Jacob Maris, who died so recently as 1890, was +known for his splendid landscapes, and still more for his town pictures +and beach scenes. Willem Maris has a partiality for meadows in which +cattle are browsing in tranquil content. Thys Maris has a very different +style. He paints grey and misty figures and landscapes all hazy and +scarcely visible. His love of the obscure and the suggestive led to the +common refusal of his portraits by patrons, who complained that they +lacked distinctness. No painter, however, commands such large prices as +he, and from £2000 to £3000 is no rare figure for his canvases. + +H. W. Mesdag is Holland's most celebrated sea painter. He pictures the +ever rolling ocean with marvellous power, and carries the song of the +waves and the cry of the wild sea birds into his great paintings, which +speak to one of the life and toil of the fishermen, the never weary +waters, and the ever varying aspects of sea and sky. In this domain he is +unrivalled, and he has certainly done some magnificent work. Mesdag has an +exhibition of his own works every Sunday morning in his studio at The +Hague, and any one who wishes is allowed to visit it, while for the +general public's benefit there is the Mesdag Panorama in the same town. + +Mauve, who died in 1887, was best known for his pastoral scenes. His +pictures of sheep on the moors and fens recall pleasant memories of +summer days and sunny hours. + +Josef Israels went largely to the life of fishermen for his motives, +though one of his best-known works is that noble one, 'David before Saul.' + +Bosboom one naturally associates with church interiors, wonderfully well +done; Blommers, Artz, and Bles likewise paint interiors, the first two +choosing their subjects by preference from the houses of the working +classes, while Bles confines himself to the dwellings of the wealthy. + +Bisschop is unquestionably the best of the Dutch portrait-painters, though +his still life is considered even more artistic than his portraits. The +foremost of the lady portrait and figure painters is Therese Schwartze, +who, like Josselin de Jong, often takes Queen Wilhelmina as a grateful +subject for her brush. + +The foregoing may be regarded as painters of the old school, though every +one has so much originality as to be virtually the initiator of a distinct +direction. The newer schools are represented by men like J. Toorop, +Voerman, Verster, Camerlingh Onnes, Bauer, and Hoytema. + +Toorop is the well-known symbolist. His style is Oriental rather than +Dutch, and his topics for the most part are mystical in character. He is +famous also for his decorative art. This many-sided man is probably the +greatest artist soul in Holland. He is expert in almost every domain of +art. Etching, pastel and water-colour drawing, oil-painting, wood-cutting, +lithography, working in silver, copper, and brass, and modelling in clay, +belong equally to his accomplishments, though as a painter he is, of +course, best known. + +Voerman, once known for his minutely painted flowers, is now a pronounced +landscape painter. His cloud studies are marvellous, though perhaps the +landscape colours are somewhat hard and overdone in the effort to produce +the desired effects. He paints, as a rule, the rolling cumulus, and is one +of the first of the younger artists. + +Verster is known best for his impressionist way of painting flowers in +colour patches, though he has now taken to the minute and mystical method +of representing them. + +Onnes, like Toorop, is a decided mystic, and there is a vein of mysticism +in all his paintings. He is famous for his light effects in glass and +pottery, and has especially a wonderful knack of painting choirs in +churches ail in a dreamy light. + +Bauer is better known, perhaps, by his drawings and etchings than by his +paintings. He paints with striking beauty old churches, temples, and +mosques, generally the exteriors, and the effect of his minute work is +wonderful. Bauer is also one of the finest of Dutch decorative artists. + +Hoytema is known for his illustrations. Animal life is his _forte_, +especially owls and monkeys. + +Among other younger painters who, though not yet of European reputation, +may still be classed with many of the older generation, are Jan Veth and +H. Haverman, both of whom excel in portraits. The lady artists who have +best held their own with the stronger sex include, in addition to those +named, Mme Bilders van Bosse, who paints woods and leafy groves with +striking power; and the late Mme. Vogels-Roozeboom, who found her +inspiration in the flora of Nature. In her day (she died in 1894) she was +the first of floral painters, and whenever she raised her brush the finest +of flowers rose up as at the touch of a magic wand. Second to her, though +not so well known by far, came Mlle W. van der Sande Bakhuizen. + +The Dutch are not only a nation of painters, but a nation of +picture-lovers, though in Holland, as in other countries, one not seldom +sees upon walls from which better would be expected tawdry art, about +which all that can be said is that it was bought cheap. The country +possesses a number of good public galleries, and much is done in this way +and by the frequent exhibition of paintings to foster the love of the +artistic. The principal exhibitions are those of the Pulchri Studio and +the Kunst-kring (Art Circle) at The Hague, and the 'Arti et Amicitia' at +Rotterdam. To become a working member of the Pulchri Studio is counted a +great honour, for the artists who are on the committee are very +particular as to whom they admit into their circle, and they ruthlessly +blackball any one who is at all 'amateurish' or who does not come up to +their high standard. For this reason it is that so many of the younger +artists give exhibitions of their own works as the only way of getting +them at all known. + +Sculpture is not much practised in Holland. It would seem to be an art +belonging almost entirely to Southern climes, although there was a time +when the Dutch modelled busts and heads from snow. The monument of Piet +Hein was originally made of snow, and so much did it take the fancy of the +people of Delftshaven, the place of his birth, that they had a stone +monument erected for him on the place where the one of snow had stood. It +is only recently, however, that sculpture has been re-introduced into +Holland as a fine art, and those artists who have taken it up need hardly +fear competition with their brethren of other Continental countries, for +their names are already on every tongue. The first amongst those who have +shown real power is Pier Pander, the cripple son of a Frisian mat-plaiter, +who came over from Rome (where he had gone to complete his studies) at +the special invitation of the Queen to model a bust of the Prince Consort, +Duke Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Other notable sculptors are Van +Mattos, Ode, Bart de Hove, and Van Wyck. + +There is also another art which is in considerable vogue, and in which +much good work has been done--that of wood-carving. In this the painter +and illustrator Hoytema has shown considerable skill. Needless to say, +Holland is also as famous now as ever for its pottery. Delft ware was ever +the fame of the Dutch nation, though the Rosenbach and Gouda pottery is +now gaining approval. It may be doubted, however, whether the love for the +latter is altogether without affectation. One is inclined to believe that +many of its admirers are enthusiastic to order. They admire because the +leading authorities assure them it is their duty so to do. + +The Netherlands, though very limited in area and small in population, can +also boast of having contributed much that is excellent to the literature +of the world, and in its roll of famous literary men are to be found names +which would redeem any country from the charge of intellectual barrenness. +Spinoza, Erasmus, and Hugo de Groot (Grotius), to name no others, form a +trio whose influence upon the thought of the world, and upon the movements +which make for human progress, has been beyond estimation, and which still +belongs to-day to the imperishable inheritance of the race. + +As illustrating the world-wide fame of Hugo de Groot it is interesting to +note that on the occasion of the Peace Conference held at The Hague in +1899 the American representatives invited all their fellow-delegates to +Delft, and there, in the church of his burial, papers were read in which +the claim of the great thinker to perpetual honour was brought to the +memories of the assembled spokesmen of the civilized world. + +It is with the modern literature and literary movements of Holland, +however, that these pages must concern themselves, and for practical +purposes we may confine ourselves principally to the latter part of the +completed century. For the early part of the nineteenth century was by no +means prolific in literary achievement, and does not boast of many great +names, if one disregards the writers whose lives linked that century with +its predecessor, like Betjen Wolff and Agatha Deken. When, in 1814-15, +Holland again became a separate kingdom, that important event failed to +mark a new era in Dutch literature. Strange to say, though the political +changes of the time powerfully influenced the sister arts of music and +painting, which show strong traces of the transition of that crisis in the +nation's history, upon literature they had no effect whatever. Before 1840 +no very brilliant writers came to the front, though the period was not +without notable names, such as Willem Bilderdijk, Hendrik C. Tollens, and +Isaac da Costa, all of whom possessed a considerable vogue. Bilderdijk's +chief claim to fame is the fact that he wrote over 300,000 lines of verse, +and regarded himself as the superior of Shakespeare; Tollens had a name +for rare patriotism, and wrote many fine historical poems and ballads; +while Da Costa, who was a converted Jew, had to the last, in spite of a +considerable popularity as a poet, to contend with the oftentimes fatal +shafts of ridicule. + +A new period opened, however, about 1840, in the _Gids_ movement promoted +by E.J. Potgieter and R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink, who were editors of +the _Gids_ and the severest of literary critics. The _Gids_ was the Dutch +equivalent of the _Edinburgh Review_ under Jeffrey, and its criticisms +were so much dreaded by the nervous Dutch author of the day that the +magazine received the name of 'The Blue Executioner,' blue being the +colour of its cover. If, however, Potgieter and Bakhuizen were unsparing +in the use of the tomahawk, the service which they rendered to Dutch +letters by their drastic treatment of crude and immature work was healthy +and lasting in influence, for it undoubtedly raised the tone and standard +of literary work, both in that day and for a long time to come, and so +helped to establish modern Dutch literature on a firm basis. Perhaps the +foremost figure in the literary revival which followed was Conrad Busken +Huet, unquestionably the greatest Dutch critic of the last century, whose +book 'Literary Criticisms and Fancies,' which contains a discriminating +review of all writers from Bilderdijk forward, is essential to a thorough +study of Dutch literature during the nineteenth century. Huet also +emancipated literature from the orthodoxy in thought which had +characterized the earlier Dutch writers, especially by his novel +'Lidewyde.' + +No novelist has more truly reflected the old fashioned ideas and simple +home life of Holland than Nicholas Beets, who still lives and even writes +occasionally, though almost a nonagenarian. His 'Camera Obscura,' which +has been translated into English, entitles Beets to be recognized as the +Dickens of Holland, and his two novels, 'De Familie Stastoc' and 'De +Familie Kegge,' are familiar to every Dutchman. The historical novelists, +Jacob van Lennep and Mrs. Bosboom Toussaint, should not be overlooked. + +One of the foremost Dutch poets of the century is Petrus Augustus de +Génestet. Although he is not free from rhetoric, and frequently uses old +and worn-out similes, his general view of things is wider and his feeling +deeper than those of any of his contemporaries in verse. The contrast, for +example, between him and Carel Vosmaer, though they belong to the same +period, is very striking, for while the poetry of Génestet is full of +feeling and ideality, that of Vosmaer is unemotional; and though he +dresses his thoughts in beautiful words, the impression left upon the mind +after reading his poetry is that which might be left after looking at a +gracefully modelled piece of marble--it is fine as art, but cold and dead, +and so awakens no responsive sympathy in the mind of the beholder. + +But the greatest of modern Dutch authors, and the one who may be termed +the forerunner of the renaissance of 1880, was E. Douwes Dekker, who died +thirteen years ago. Dekker had an eventful career. He went to the Dutch +Indies at the age of twenty-one, and there spent some seventeen years in +official life, gradually rising to the position of Assistant Resident of +Lebac. While occupying that office his eyes were opened to the defective +System of government existing in the Colonies, and the abuses to which the +natives were subjected. He tried to interest the higher officials on +behalf of the subject races, but as all his endeavours proved unavailing +he became disheartened, and, resigning his post, returned to Holland with +the object of pleading in Government circles at home the cause which he +had taken so deeply to heart. As a deaf ear was still turned to all his +entreaties he decided, as a last resource, to appeal for a hearing at the +bar of public opinion. He entered literature, and wrote the stirring story +'Max Havelaar,' in which he gave voice to the wrongs of the natives and +the callous injustices perpetrated by the Colonial authorities. The book +made a great sensation, and has unquestionably had very beneficial results +in opening the public's eyes to some of the more glaring defects of +Colonial administration. + +In 1880 Dutch literature entered upon an entirely new phase. The chief +authors of the movement then begun were Lodewryk van Deyssel, Albert +Verwey, and Willem Kloos, who in the monthly magazine, _De Nieuwe Gids_, +exercised by their trenchant criticisms the same beneficial and +restraining influence upon the literature of the day as Potgieter and +Bakhuizen did forty years before. The columns of the _Nieuwe Gids_ were +only opened to the very best of Dutch authors, and any works not coming up +to the editors' high ideas of literary excellence were unmercifully +'slated' by these competent critics. Independence was the prominent +characteristic of the authors of the period. They shook themselves free +from the old thoughts and similes, and created new paths, in which their +minds found freer expression. The new thoughts demanded new words, hence +came about the practice of word-combination, which was in direct defiance +of the conservative canons of literary style which had hitherto prevailed, +so that nowadays almost every author adds a new vocabulary of his own to +the Dutch language, so enhancing the charm of his own writings and adding +to the literary wealth of the nation in general. + +The poetess whom Holland to-day most delights to honour is Helena Lapidoth +Swarth, whose works increase in worth and beauty every year. Her command +of the Dutch language and her power of wresting from it literary resources +which are unattainable by any other writer have made her the admiration of +all critics of penetration. Louis Couperas is also another living poet of +mark, who, however, does not confine himself to formal versification, for +his prose is also poetry. His best works are 'Elme Vere,' the first book +he wrote, and the characters in which are said to have been all taken from +life, and his novels 'Majesty' and 'Universal Peace,' which have gained +for him a European reputation, for they have been translated into most +modern languages. + +Women authors who have written works with a special tendency are Cornelie +Huygens, who is known particularly by her novel 'Barthold Maryan;' Mrs. +Goekoop de Jong, who champions the cause of women's rights; and Anna de +Savornin Lohman, who, in a striking book entitled, 'Why question any +longer?' has written very bitterly against the political conditions of the +circle of society in which she moves. + +While the authors of the present day are beneficially leavening popular +opinion by inculcating higher and healthier sentiments, there are also +authors in Holland, as elsewhere, who debase good metal, and write from a +purely material standpoint. To this class of authors belong Marcellus +Emants and Frans Netcher. + +Of Dutch dramatic writers, Herman Heyermans is one of the most noteworthy, +and some of his plays have been translated into French, and produced in +Paris theatres. + +It is a great drawback to literary effort in Holland that the _honoraria_ +paid to authors are so low that most writers who happen not to be +pecuniarily independent--and they are the majority--are unable to make a +tolerable subsistence at home by the pen alone, and are obliged to +contribute to foreign publications, and some even resort to teaching. Many +Dutch authors of high rank write anonymously in English, French, and +German magazines, and probably earn far more in that way than by their +contributions to Dutch ephemeral literature, for the ordinary fee for a +sheet of three thousand words--which is the average length of a printed +sheet in a Dutch magazine--is only forty francs. + +The pity is that Dutch literature itself is not known as well as it +deserves to be, for any one who takes the trouble to master the Dutch +language will find himself well repaid by the treasures of thought which +are contained in the modern authors of Holland. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +The Dutch as Readers + + + +Although printing was not invented in Holland, the nation would not have +been unworthy of that honour, for there is a widespread culture of the +book among all classes of the population, and the newspaper and periodical +press makes further a very large contribution to its intellectual food. +Nearly two thousand booksellers and publishers are engaged in the task of +bringing within easy reach of their customers everything they wish to +read. It is no unusual thing to find a decently equipped retail bookshop +in quite unimportant townlets, and even in villages. By an admirable +arrangement every publisher sends parcels of books for the various +retailers all over the country to one central house in Amsterdam--'het +Bestelhuis voor den Boekhandel' (the Booksellers' Collecting and +Distributing Office). In this establishment the publishers' parcels are +opened, and all books sent by the various publishers for one retailer are +packed together and forwarded to him, by rail, steamer, or other cheap +mode of conveyance. In consequence, any doctor, clergyman, or schoolmaster +can receive a penny or twopenny pamphlet in his out-of-the-way home, as +well as any book or periodical from London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, etc., +within a remarkably short time, without trouble, and without extra +expense in postage, by simply applying to the local bookseller. + +The Dutch are very cosmopolitan in their reading. Many children of the +superior working classes learn French at the primary schools; most +children of the middle class pick up English and German as well at the +secondary schools, and a large proportion of them are able to talk in +these three foreign languages; and as opportunities for intercourse are +not over-abundant in the smaller towns, they keep up their knowledge of +these languages by reading. Indeed, the five millions of Dutchmen are, +relatively, the largest buyers of foreign literature in Europe. The +translator, however, comes to the rescue of those who succeed in +forgetting so much of their foreign languages that they find reading them +a very mitigated enjoyment. This question of translation is rather a sore +point in the relations between Dutch and foreign authors and publishers. +The pecuniary injury done to foreign authors, however, is very slight, +while in reputation they have benefited; for if Dutch private libraries +are not without their Shakespeare, Motley, Macaulay, Dickens, Thackeray, +Kingsley, Browning, not to mention French and German classics, this is +mainly due to the fact that the parents of the present generation had the +opportunity of buying Dutch translations, and explained to their children +the value and the beauty of these works. + +Moreover, most authors and publishers in foreign countries, using +languages with world-wide circulation, are apt to miscalculate the profits +made by Dutch publishers, with their very limited market and limited sale. +A royalty of £5 for the right of translating some novel would be regarded +as a contemptibly small sum in the English book world, but £5 in Dutch +currency presses heavily on the budget of a Dutch translation, of which +only some hundred or so copies can be sold at a retail price of not quite +five shillings, and is an almost prohibitive price to pay for the +copyright of a novel which is only used as the _feuilleton_ of a local +paper with an edition of under a thousand copies a week. As a fact, many +Dutch publishers pay royalties to their foreign colleagues as soon as the +publication is important enough to bear the expense; but the majority +clearly will only give up their ancient 'right' of free translation, and +agree to join the Berne Convention, if a practicable way can be found out +of the financial difficulty. For the present, then, the Dutch are +cosmopolitan readers, direct or indirect. In the average bookseller's shop +one finds, of course, a majority of novels--novels of all sorts and +conditions--supplemented by literary essays and poems. In a number of +cases the bookseller is not merely a shopkeeper who deals in printed +matter, and supplies just what his customers ask for, but a man of +education and judgment, who is well able to give his opinion on books and +authors. Often he has read them, though oftener, of course, he is guided +by the leading monthly and weekly magazines and reviews, and by the +publishers' columns of the leading daily newspapers. The bookseller is +thus in many cases the trusted manager and guiding spirit of one or more +'Leesgezelschappen,' or 'Reading Societies.' These societies have a +history. At the end of the eighteenth century they were often political +and even revolutionary bodies. The members or subscribers met to discuss +books, pamphlets, and periodicals, but frequently they discussed by +preference the passages in the books bearing upon political conditions, +and argued improvements which they considered desirable or necessary. As +time passed by, and free institutions became the possession of the Dutch, +the political mission of the Reading Society became exhausted, but the +institution itself survived, and continues to the present day. + +The 'Leesgezelschap' owes its special form to another peculiarity of the +Dutch--their intensely domesticated, home-loving character. Family life, +with its fine and delicate intimacies between husband and wife, between +parent and children, is the most attractive feature of national existence +in the Netherlands. Family life is, indeed, the centre from which the +national virtues emanate, because there the individual members educate +each other in the practice of personal virtues. The Dutchman is not +constitutionally reserved and shy; he knows how to live a full, strong, +public life; he never shrinks from civic duties and social intercourse; +but his love of home life takes the first place after his passion for +liberty and independence. Club life in Holland is insignificant, and few +clubs even attempt to create a substitute for home life; they are merely +used for friendly intercourse for an hour or so every day, and as +better-class restaurants. A Dutchman prefers to do his reading at home, in +the domestic circle, with the members of his family, or in his study if he +follows some scientific occupation, and his 'Leesgezelschap' affords him +the opportunity of doing this. There are military, theological, +educational, philological, and all sorts of scientific reading societies, +besides those for general literature. They work on the co-operative +System. The manager is in many cases a local bookseller, buying Dutch and +foreign books, magazines, reviews, illustrated weeklies and pamphlets in +one or more copies, according to the number, the tastes, and the wants of +the members. Most societies take in books and periodicals in four +languages--Dutch, French, German, English--and so their members keep +themselves well acquainted with the world's opinion. And all this, be it +added, costs the subscriber vastly less than the fees of English +circulating libraries, with their restricted advantages and heavy expenses +of delivery. + +Between the book and the newspaper lies a form of literature which is +specifically Dutch--the 'Vlugschrift,' _brochure_, or pamphlet. The +_brochure_ is an old historical institution. In the eighteenth century it +was very popular as a vehicle for the zeal of fiery reformers who thus +vented their opinions on burning political questions of the day. There is +no necessity nowadays for these small booklets, so easily hidden from +suspicions eyes, though the _brochure_ is still used whenever, in stirring +speech or impassioned sermon, Holland's leading men address themselves to +the emotions of the hour. These _brochures_, as a rule, cost no more than +sixpence, yet, none the less, the thrifty Dutch have 'Leesgezelschappen' +which buy and circulate them among their subscribers; they take everything +from everybody, never caring whose opinions they read upon the various +subjects of current interest, a trait which evidences a very praiseworthy +lack of bias. + +This lack of bias is not so obvions so far as newspaper reading is +concerned. Like other people, the Dutch take such newspapers as defend or +represent their own political opinions, and often affect towards journals +on the other side a contemptuous indifference which is only half real. + +Political parties in Holland differ slightly from those of Great Britain, +except that in the former country politics and religion go together. Thus +in Holland a Liberal who at the same time is not advanced in religious +thought hardly exists, and would scarcely be trusted. In consequence the +Liberals were not defeated at the last general elections because they were +Liberals, but because their opponents (the Anti-Revolutionists and Roman +Catholics) denounced them as irreligious and atheistical. In political +strife the religious controversy takes the form of an argument for and +against the influence of religious dogma upon politics and education. + +Now, as far as journalism goes, the Liberal and Radical newspapers +unquestionably take the lead. The Roman Catholics are like the +Anti-Revolutionists, very anxious to provide their readers with wholesome +news, but this anxiety is not successfully backed up by care that this +wholesome news shall be early as well; hence their journalism is somewhat +behind the times. Of most of the progressive newspapers it may be said +that the whole of the contents are interesting; as to the rest, they are +only interesting because of the leading articles, which are sometimes +written by eminent men. + +As far as circulation goes, _Het Nieuws van den Dag_ can boast to be the +leading journal, its edition running to nearly 40,000 copies a day. Up to +the present its editors have been advanced, or 'Modern,' Protestant +clergymen, in the persons of Simon Gorter, H. de Veer, and P.H. Ritter. +Although not taking a strong line in politics, its inclinations are +decidedly towards moderate Liberalism, and, thanks to its cheap +price--14s. 6d. per annum--its extensive, prudently and carefully selected +and worded supply of news, and its sagacious management, it became the +family paper of the Dutch, excellently suiting the quiet taste of the +middle class of the nation. It is found everywhere save in those few +places where the Roman Catholic Church has sufficient influence to get it +boycotted. The _Nieuws_, as it is generally called, gives from +twenty-four to thirty-two, and even more, pages of closely printed matter, +of which the advertisements occupy rather over than under half. One does +not see it read in public more than any other Dutch paper, and two reasons +account for this. One is the fact that, as has been said, a Dutchman +prefers to do his reading at home--'met een boekje, in een hoekje' ('with +my book in a quiet corner') is the Dutchman's ideal of cosy literary +enjoyment. Then, too, Dutch newspaper publishers prefer a system of safe +quarterly subscriptions to the chance of selling one day a few thousand +copies less than the other, since even the largest circulation in Holland +is too limited for risky commercial vicissitudes. Hence they make the +price for single numbers so high that only the prospect of long hours in a +railway-carriage frightens a Dutchman into buying one or more newspapers. + +The _Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant_ is another typical Dutch newspaper, but +appealing to quite other instincts than the _Nieuws._ In their quiet way +the Dutch are rather proud of their _Nieuwe Kotterdammer_, which inspires +something like awe for its undeniable, but slightly ponderous, virtues. +The _Nieuwe Rotterdammer_ is absolutely Liberal, and stands no Radical or +Social Democratic nonsense; its leading articles are lucid, cool, logical, +and to the point; it has correspondents everywhere, at home and abroad; +and all staunch Liberals of a clear-cut, even dogmatic type, who love Free +Trade and look upon municipal and State intervention as pernicious, swear +by it. The present chief editor is Dr. Zaayer, formerly a Liberal member +of the Second Chamber of the States-General, a shrewd, well-read Dutchman, +with a splendid University education; and the manager, J.C. Nijgh, is as +clever a man of business as Rotterdam can produce. As far as it is +possible to lead Dutchmen by printed matter, the _Nieuwe Rotterdammer_ +does it. Its supply of news is so fresh and so reliable that everybody +reads it, even the Roman Catholics in North Brabant and Limburg, Holland's +two Catholic counties. + +The next important newspaper is _Het Algemeen Handelsblad_ of Amsterdam, +which is peculiarly the journal of the Amsterdam merchants, shipowners, +and traders. The _Handelsblad_ is not so exclusively Liberal as its +competitor in Rotterdam, for its inclinations are of a more advanced turn, +and it is always ready to admit rather Radical articles on social matters +if written by serious men. Its chief editor is Dr. A. Polak, of whom it is +said that what he does not know about the working and meaning of the Dutch +constitution and the Dutch law is hardly worth knowing. His articles +display a calm, sound, scientific brain and an honest, straightforward +mind. Its managing editor is Charles Boissevain, whose contributions to +the paper, entitled 'Van Dag tot Dag' ('From Day to Day'), are equally +admirable for brilliancy of style, broadness of spirit, and the manly +outspokenness of their contents. This journal has likewise an extensive +staff and a huge army of correspondents at home and abroad. + +A third Liberal journal of growing influence is the Radical _Vaderland_, +of which the late Minister of the Interior, Mr. H. Goeman Borgesius, now a +member of the Second Chamber, was chief editor during many years, though +there no longer exists any personal connexion between the two, and the +_Vaderland_ is, if anything, more advanced in politics than its former +editor. Its chief influence is at The Hague, formerly a stronghold of +Conservatism, until the Conservative party disappeared entirely. + +Other Liberal, Radical, and Social Democratic newspapers are published +all over the country, the most important and influential being the +Liberal-democratic _Arnhemsche Courant._ + +Mr. Troelstra, one of the Socialist leaders, edits a daily, _Het Volk_ +('The People'), a well-written party newspaper, whose influence, however, +does not extend beyond its party. + +Professor Abraham Kuyper, leader of the Anti-Revolutionist or Calvinist +party, the largest but one in the country, was editor of the _Standaard_ +until he became President Minister of the Netherlands. In opposition to +the Liberal principle, as formulated by the Italian reformer Cavour, 'A +Free Church in a Free State,' he maintains that the Bible, being God's +Word, is the only possible basis for any State, and holds that the King +and the Government derive their power and authority not from the people, +but from God. His _Standaard_ is another proof that whatever this +universal genius does bears the unmistakable stamp of his power and +personality. One may be thoroughly opposed to his principles, but nobody +can help admiring the sterling merit of his leading articles. If Kuyper +writes or speaks upon any subject under the sun, you will be sure to find +him thoroughly acquainted with it; but then his turn of mind is so +original and his style is so brilliant, that he discloses points of view +which give it fresh interest to those who most cordially disagree with +him. The brilliancy of his journalistic powers is not confined, however, +to his leaders. The _Standaard_ has another and more purely polemical +feature, its 'Driestars'--short paragraphs, separated in the column by +three asterisks, whence their name. These 'Driestars' are the pride and +the wonder of the Dutch Press, on account of their trenchant, clever, +courageous wording, a wording which is sure to incite the opponent to +bitter defence or fiery attack, and to provide the adherent with an +argument so finely sharpened and polished that he delights in the +possession of so excellent a weapon. + +Dr. Kuyper's political opponent in the Calvinist party is Mr. A. F. de +Savornin Lohman, the leader of the aristocrats, whereas Kuyper is the head +of the 'kleine luyden'--the humble toilers of the fields and towns. Mr. +Lohman was a member of the first Calvino-Catholic Cabinet, and is still a +great power in his party; in consequence his _Nederlander_ exerts some +influence, though not nearly so much as the _Standaard_. + +The two most prominent Roman Catholic newspapers are the Conservative +_Tyd_ ('Time') and the somewhat democratic _Centrum_. Both are party +papers pure and simple, and are excellently edited, so far as party +politics are concerned, by clever, well educated, well read men. The +_Centrum_ frequently enjoys the co-operation of Dr. Herman Schaepman, the +priest-poet, whose somewhat ponderous eloquence is agreeably relieved by a +glowing enthusiasm and a refreshing force of conviction. + +Kuyper, Boissevain and Schaepman are, indeed, three journalists of whom +any country might be proud. Their style, their individuality, and their +mental power are equally remarkable, and though living and working in +different grooves of life, using different modes of thought, and +cherishing different ideals, they powerfully impress and influence their +readers by the purity of their aims, the honesty of their convictions, and +the chivalry of their controversial methods. But of the three Boissevain +is the only one who is a journalist for the sake of journalism. Yet +neither Calvinist nor Catholic journal tries to compete with the _Nieuwe +Rotterdammer_ or the _Handelsblad_ in the publication of original and +high-class information. They aim rather at providing their readers with +the necessary party arguments, and the news is a matter of secondary +importance. + +As to the provinces in general, of the 1300 towns and villages of Holland, +nearly 300 are the happy possessors of a local newspaper of some +description, and altogether 1700 daily and weekly journals, devoted +variously to the representation of political, clerical, mercantile, +scientific, and other interests, are published in the whole country. + +The Dutch like to see more than one newspaper, but the majority of people +cannot afford to be dual subscribers, and a great many cannot even afford +to buy a single news-sheet regularly. Hence agencies exist for circulating +the papers from one reader to another. Those who receive them straight +from the publisher pay most, and those who are contented to enjoy their +news when one, two, or three days old pay but a small fee. The newspaper +circulating agency is very general in Holland, and in centres of +restricted domestic resources it plays a very useful place in social and +political life. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +Political Life and Thought + + + +Holland is a democratic kingdom. Democracy was born there in the sixteenth +century, and is still unquestionably thriving. But democracy was born in +peculiar circumstances; it was reared by men whose ideas of democracy +differed, for, while the leaders of the nation consistently worked for +popular government, they did not all or always mean exactly the same thing +by the word 'people,' and hence did not aim at exactly the same goal. The +French Revolution of the eighteenth century upset the outward form of the +Dutch Commonwealth; it did away with ancient and more or less obsolete +fetters, which proved no longer strong enough to support the growth of +political life, though still sufficiently strong to hinder it. It could do +nothing for, and add nothing to, the profound love of liberty and the +passion for independence which are dearer to every Dutchman than life +itself, but it could and did extend the blessing of political and +religious freedom to a greater number of people. Love of liberty brought +about the disestablishment of the Church, and love of toleration made +Holland follow this measure in the fifties by the emancipation of the +Roman Catholics. + +Every one who is acquainted with Dutch history understands that these two +things have as much meaning for Dutch political as for Dutch religious +life. But side by side with religious and political freedom came also +economic freedom. The guilds were abolished, and so the bonds by which the +handicrafts had been prevented from moving with the movements of the +times, and thus of living a healthy life, were swept away. The social +revolution acted like the doctor who enters a close and stuffy sick-room +and throws open the windows and door, so that the invalid may get the very +first necessity of life--fresh air. So it was with a sigh of relief that +the Dutch--and not they alone--said, 'No State interference in matters of +trade and industry, let us keep open the windows and doors!' + +No doctor, however, will compel his patient to live in a constant draught, +winter and summer, since upon one occasion a liberal admission of fresh +air was necessary to save that patient's life. There can be no doubt that +during the nineteenth century the doors and windows were kept open rather +too long. The great employers of labour were strong enough to stand the +draught, for centuries of prosperity had made them a powerful class; but +their men had no such advantages, and they were worse off when steam power +brought about another revolution by creating the so-called system of +'capitalistic production' and the growth of the large industries. Hence it +comes about that Holland, like all civilized countries, is now trying to +find out how far the windows and the doors must be closed, so as to allow +the men to live as well as the masters. This, in few words, characterizes +Dutch party politics from the social and economic side. + +Political parties in the Netherlands obviously differ not only in their +views upon political, religious, and economic issues, but also as to the +degree of precedence to be allowed to each of these three departments of +national life and thought. The Liberals say, "Politics first; if these are +sound and religion and commerce are free, everything will be right." The +Social Democrats reply, "Politics only concern us as a means of obtaining +real and substantial economic liberty and material equality; religion does +not affect us at all, and certainly does not help to solve the practical +problems of human life." Differing from both, the Anti-Revolutionists +assert, "Whosoever leaves the firm ground of God's Word, the Holy +Scriptures, as the only true basis for public and private action, can have +neither sound politics nor sound economics." The Roman Catholics also put +religion on the first plane, but they are in the most difficult position +of all. They are a minority, even a decreasing minority, and know +perfectly well that they will never be a majority; so they recognize that +in the first place they must try to be good Dutchmen, faithful, loyal +citizens of the State, while in the second place they must not give up one +single ideal of their Church. Their faith in the eternal existence of +their ecclesiastic system enables them on the one hand to be patient and +to wait, just as on the other hand it teaches them not to sit still, but +to act, to work, either by themselves or conjointly with any party that +may assist them to realize, or even to get nearer to, any of their +religious ideals. + +When the Liberals, in the middle of the nineteenth century, did an act of +great toleration by emancipating the Roman Catholic Church, the +Protestants threw over the Liberal Cabinet, and the Liberal leader, +Thorbecke, was returned to Parliament by the most Catholic town of +Holland, Maestricht, in Limburg. But afterwards the Anti-Revolutionists +raised the cry for denominational education, and the Dutch Liberals were +rather sore to find their former friends join their antagonists. The +soreness was in consequence of a miscalculation; the Liberals had +forgotten that in becoming emancipated the Roman Catholics did not become +Liberals, but remained Roman Catholics as before, faithful to their creed, +and to their ideals, even at the cost of political friendship. + +The common ground upon which Anti-Revolutionists and Roman Catholics meet +is the conviction that religion must in everything be the starting-point. +The Anti-Revolutionists take the Scriptures as such; the Roman Catholics +accept the Pope's decisions, given _ex cathedrâ_, as inspired by the Holy +Spirit and transmitted to him by Conclaves and Councils. For the rest, +Rome's creed is sheer idolatry to the Anti-Revolutionist Protestants, +whereas Rome looks upon ail Protestants as lost heretics. But both, again, +consider such Protestants--the so-called 'Moderns'--who reject the +Trinity, the miracles, the Divine origin of the Bible, and certain other +dogmas, as simple atheists, and as most 'Moderns' are Liberals, and +_vice-versâ_, they proclaim the Liberal State to be an atheistic State. + +Strictly speaking, there is really no Conservative party in Holland, for +it ceased to exist in the beginning of the seventies. After Thorbecke gave +Holland the Liberal constitution of 1848, the Conservatives tried for a +time to obstruct the country's political development, but ultimately they +gave up the attempt, and their best and ablest men, Mr. J. Heemsherk Azn +and Earl C. Th. van Lynden van Sandenburg, headed Liberal Cabinets as men +professing very moderately progressive views, yet openly opposed to the +restoration of the somewhat autocratic and aristocratic conditions which +prevailed before 1848 in consequence of the reaction against the chaotic +era of the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet though there is +no Conservative party in Holland, there are, none the less, Conservatives +in every party. + +The Liberal party counts three sections, the Old Liberals, the +Radico-Liberals, and the Liberal Democrats. The Old Liberals adhere to +Thorbecke's principles, and maintain that it is the primary business of a +Liberal State to promote individuality and to create on this basis the +general conditions by which social development can be achieved. According +to them the State has no right to interfere in everything, to cure +everything, to provide everything, as the collectivist would like; on the +contrary, its first duty is abstinence--simply to preserve a fair field +and to show no favour. These Old Liberals, in fact, regard the State as a +legal corporation which exists merely to administer justice and to guard +the constitutional rights of its citizens. + +Their political friends and next-of-kin are the Radico-Liberals of the +'Liberal Union,' who form, for the present, the bulk of the party. They +admit the value of individual energy and enterprise, and hold that +unlimited scope must be allowed to these; they even contend that, on the +whole, the system of unfettered individualism proved to be more in the +workman's favour than the opposite; but they also admit that this +condition is not such as it might and ought to be, and in consequence they +do not object to social legislation wherever individual efforts fail. + +The advanced Liberal Democrats ('de Vryzinnige Democraten') differ +fundamentally from both the foregoing parties. They give prominence to +political rights and franchises, and hence fall foul of a leading clause +(clause 80) of the constitution, which confers electoral powers upon only +such adult male inhabitants as 'possess characteristics of capability and +prosperity.' The members of the 'Liberal Union' admit that the requirement +of a certain measure of prosperity withholds from numbers of citizens the +right to influence their country's affairs by their votes. They admit also +that the constitution ought to be altered on this point, but they doubt +whether it is sound practical politics to put this item in the foreground. +They say, in effect, 'We can quite well provide the country with adequate +social legislation either with or without the help of the disfranchised +section of the population, for if we propose measures dealing with social +problems, even the more Conservative amongst us will not object, and those +measures will come on the statute book. But there is not the slightest +chance that we shall ever get the Old Liberals to give the franchise to +poor and destitute people, who have no financial stake whatever in the +country. So by insisting upon adult suffrage you merely postpone social +legislation indefinitely. Moreover, the object of our social legislation +can only be to make the poorer class more capable and more prosperous, and +as soon as that end is gained they get the franchise automatically, +without any change of the constitution.' To this the Liberal Democrats +reply: 'Social legislation must not be regarded as a grudgingly admitted +necessity, it is the paramount duty of the State, and as social +legislation principally affects those who are now disfranchised, it is +only just to begin by affording them the opportunity of expressing their +opinions upon the subject, and hence to alter the constitution so as to +give them votes, for they know best what they want.' + +The Liberal Democrats deny, in fact, that the State can make any laws that +do not affect the social life as well as the legal position of its +citizens, and contend that those who hold that natural laws rule the +social relations of man with man, and that on this ground the State ought +to refrain from interference, merely allow the State to protect the +stronger against the weaker classes, whereas its duty is the contrary. +Positive interference in social matters is, according to them, the State's +duty, and it may only refrain when the free operation of social forces +creates no conditions or relationships which offend modern ideas of +justice and equity. + +The Democrats have, unquestionably, by their secession, greatly crippled +the strength of the Liberal party, and it will be long before the younger +generation of Liberals can take the places thus vacated and a rejuvenated +and unanimous party can issue from the present dissensions. + +The only other political party in Holland who do not accept religion as +the one safe starting-point for politics are the Social Democrats. When +the German Socialists of the school of Marx discovered how the sudden +development of steam and machinery was followed by a vast amount of +distress amongst the labouring classes, affecting also such of the lower +middle class as principally traded with workpeople, they at once jumped +at the conclusion that the same thing was bound to go on for ever. +Perhaps it was with a feeling of despair, therefore, that the father of +Dutch Social Democracy, F. Domela Nieuwenhuys, gradually drifted into +anarchism, or, as he prefers to call it, Free Socialism, and finally +abandoned all political action. The younger generation, led by F. van der +Goes, H. van Kol, and, last but not least, P. J. Troelstra, still +vigorously carry on the fray, however, and a very considerable number of +Dutch workmen follow them. Their ambition is to conquer political power +in Holland, and as soon as they have it to revolutionize, not the +country, but the statute-book, in such a manner that they may acquire the +economic power as well. Of course, they wish to abolish individual +property in all the means of production, and to make the State the owner +of all these; and it is their hope that a general love for the +commonwealth, and zeal for the general welfare of all, may take the place +of the present egotism and sordid pursuit of wealth. + +[Illustration: Parliament House at the Hague. View from the Great Lake.] + +The Anti-Revolutionists also have their Conservatives and Progressives. +Dr. Kuyper always speaks of a 'Left' and a 'Right' wing of his party, and +as the Conservative 'Right' is largely composed of the members of the +Dutch nobility, he once sneeringly called this fraction 'the men with the +double names.' Their proper title is 'Free Anti-Revolutionists,' and their +leader, Jhr. A.F. de Savornin Lohman, who in 1888, with Baron Ae. Mackay +(Lord Reay's cousin), led the first Anti-Revolutionist-Catholic majority +in the Second Chamber of the States-General. + +The third faction is headed by Dr. Bronsveld, and is called the +'Christian Historicals,' who differ on one great principle from the two +others, inasmuch as they seek the re-establishment of the Netherlands +Hervormde Kerk as State Church. + +But, however much they differ in practical measures, their common ground +is the recognition of the Holy Scriptures as the only right basis for +statesmanship, and their conviction that the present modern State is +merely a passing, non-Dutch consequence of the French Revolution and its +disastrous teachings. They all agree that the Netherlands should be +governed according to the principles that made Holland great and powerful +ever since the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Dr. Kuyper is fully +convinced that the French Revolution thrust Holland off its historical +line of development, and he wants to return, as near as possible, to the +point reached before that event, or, at any rate, to lead the State +forward in the old direction. + +All Anti-Revolutionists hold that their first civic duty is obedience to +God;--if conscience requires resistance to the authorities, resist them, +whatever you may suffer. At the same time they eschew clericalism and +object to every form of State Church. Hence one of their chief antipathies +is clause 171 of the constitution, which continues in the same way as +before the disestablishment of the Church the payments by the Exchequer to +various clergymen of all denominations. In opposition to this they demand +entire and absolute liberty and equality for all churches and confessions, +and, theoretically, admit that one can be a member of their party without +being of their creed. With regard to education, they do not desire to +substitute denominational State schools for the present neutral ones, but +they object that at present the State compels parents, who desire +religious schools for their children, not only to find all necessary +money for these 'free schools,' but to contribute in addition to the +school taxes, to the advantage of such parents as hold that secular and +religious education are better disconnected, since religious education +must needs be dogmatical and sectarian, and that the churches and not the +State should look to this, whereas school education can quite well be +given without reference to religion at all. + +The Anti-Revolutionist position, on the other hand, is that it is not the +State's duty to provide school or any other education, all education being +a matter of private concern for the individual family, and not a public +business at all; though they allow that where parents are unable to +maintain them schools may be erected by the taxpayers' money. They also +deprecate legislation against intemperance, immorality, and prostitution, +because they think such laws do not remove the evils themselves, but +merely attack their visible signs, and relieve moral trespassers of part +of their responsibility by protecting them against certain consequences of +their acts. They are opposed to the legal and compulsory observance of the +Sabbath, holding this to be an affair of the churches and of individuals; +but they support laws to compel employers to allow their men a sufficient +weekly rest on Sundays. They admit a limited State interference in social +matters, but contend that it must not discourage individual effort, or +create a host of officials, inspectors, and controllers. The franchise +must, according to them, never enable one section of the nation to +supersede the other by sheer force of numbers; they do not admit that the +majority System is the ultimate and only criterion of legality and +justice; moreover, the family being the unit from which the commonwealth +has grown into existence, they contend that heads of families are the +natural electors. Where the Old Liberals say that the financial test is +the right one for voters, the Anti-Revolutionists hold that no one has a +real stake in the country who has not a family and knows nothing of the +responsibilities involved thereby. Dr. Kuyper is the democratic leader of +what he calls, in classical but antiquated Dutch, the 'Kleine luyden' (the +'Little people') amongst the Anti-Revolutionists. He knows that the +'double-named' Free Anti-Revolutionists have little sympathy with his +social programme, but this does not matter, since they are perfectly well +aware of the fact that they owe everything, as far as political power +goes, to the 'Little people.' + +Finally, there is the Left Wing of the Roman Catholic party, who derive +their social convictions from Pope Leo's Encyclica 'Rerum Novarum,' which +affords a great many points upon which joint action is possible, for Leo +XIII. is often called in Holland 'the Workmen's Pope.' Both +Anti-Revolutionists and Roman Catholics entertain entirely different +political ideals, but they agree upon this, that the modern Liberal State +is not really neutral in religions matters, but is 'Modern Protestant,' +and 'Modern' Protestantism spells atheism in their eyes; and both regard a +weak and fragile Christian as a better citizen than the best atheist or +agnostic. For this reason they are combined in hostility to the existing +System of elementary education, which they suspect of an atheistic +tendency. These two questions, religion and the schools, virtually exhaust +the vital points of agreement between the Anti-Revolutionists and the +Roman Catholics, though in an emergency they might possibly unite on +social legislation or some mild form of Protection. The latter would, +however, have to be very mild indeed, for Dr. Kuyper is a Free Trader, and +the 'Little people' like cheap bread just as well as other folk. For +Holland it might be a matter of great importance if progressive social +legislation became Kuyper's chief work. + +There is no doubt a great drawback in this mixing up by ail parties of +politics and religion. Kuyper, the Calvinist; Schaepman, the Catholic; +Drucker, Treub, and Molengraaf, the Liberal Democrats; Goeman Borgesius, +the man of the 'Liberal Union;' and Troelstra, the Socialist, all have +many common ideas on social questions, although they may differ in +principles and seek different aims. Each of them, however, has +Conservative opponents in his own party, and there is just a possibility +that the next few years may bring about not only a healthy measure of +social development, but also a much-desired readjustment of parties, on +non-theological, undogmatical lines. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +The Administration of Justice + + + +There are two very marked differences between the administration of +justice in Holland and in England. The first is that what are called +'petty offences' are not tried and disposed of summarily in the former +country. There the offender in such cases is subjected to a process known +as 'verbalization'--that is, his name, address, age, and all particulars +of the offence are noted by the police; and he is thereupon informed that +he will be called upon to give an account of himself later. A week or two +may pass before the offender receives verbal or printed notice requiring +his presence before the Court of the Cantonal Judge, which answers +somewhat to the English Police Court. This delay in the administration of +justice is regarded as a great defect even in Holland, and one which is +more and more being recognized. The establishment of the Police Court as +known and conducted in England is felt, therefore, to be a great +_desideratum_, and it is by no means unlikely that it may be introduced +before long, since the Dutch have always shown themselves ready to adopt +any modification of their own institutions which the experience of other +countries may prove to be clearly desirable. + +The second difference is that trial by jury as Englishmen understand it +does not exist in the Netherlands. But here the Dutch are not likely to +abandon their own tradition. The jury in Holland is composed of +experienced and qualified judges, who are not apt to modify their opinions +as to the guilt or innocence of accused persons owing to the tears of the +latter or the passionate appeals of their advocates. Rightly or wrongly, +the most eminent lawyers in Holland ascribe the often-recurring cases of +miscarriage of justice in some countries which have adopted the jury +system to this system itself, and it is very improbable, therefore, that +in this respect the Dutch will copy any of their neighbours. + +The organization of justice in Holland originated in the Code Napoleon, +which was introduced shortly after the country's annexation to the French +Empire. In the judicial system in vogue to-day, which is the result of +modifications introduced at various times during last century, and +particularly by a law of the year 1895, the administration of justice is +vested in the High Court (_Hooge Raad_), the Provincial Courts of Justice +(_Gerechtskoven_), the Arrondissements (_Rechtbanken_), and the Cantonal +Courts (_Kantongerechten_). + +The High Court consists of a President, a Vice-President, from twelve to +fourteen Councillors, a Procurator-General, three Advocates-General (who +form, with the Procurator-General, the 'Public Ministry' or Office of +Public Prosecution), also a Greffier, or Clerk of Court, and two deputy +Greffiers. Most of the appointments are made by the Sovereign, and are +for life. The High Court is situated at The Hague, and its principal duty +is to control the administration of justice by the lower Courts, a +process known as 'cassation.' If, for example, one of the lower Courts +has pronounced a sentence from which there is no appeal in that Court, +and one of the contending parties is of opinion that the sentence is +excessive, that party may require the High Court to cancel or annul +(_casseer_) the verdict. When an appeal for cassation or annulment is +thus made, the High Court has not to go into the question of the guilt or +innocence of the contending parties, but merely into the question whether +the lower Court has judged rightly or whether it was competent to judge +the case at all. Such 'cassations' occur almost daily, not because the +High Court has a reputation for reversing the verdicts given below, but +because the process offers at least a good chance of getting a sentence +reduced. The Public Prosecution, however, has power to set in motion the +process of cassation without being called upon so to do if the interests +of justice should in its opinion require it. To the jurisdiction of the +High Court belong also piracy cases, the apportionment of prizes made in +war, and the determination of accusations against State officials of +abuse of power. + +Of Provincial Courts there are five, each composed of officials similar in +name, though not in rank, to those of the High Court, and they, too, are +for the most part appointed by the Crown, though not all for life. These +Provincial Courts pronounce judgment in the second instance--that is, when +the decision of a lower Court has been appealed against. This is, in fact, +their principal function, though they also pronounce judgment in the first +instance in cases of difference between the Cantonal Courts or +Arrondissement Courts. The latter are so named from the divisions into +which the country was split up for administrative purposes during the +Napoleonic _régime_, for the existing arrondissement boundaries are +virtually the same as those of ninety years ago. + +There are twenty-three Arrondissement Courts, thirteen of the first-class +and ten of the second class. Their principal business is to pronounce +judgment in the first instance, even in criminal cases, but they also +decide in the final instance in cases of dispute between the Cantonal +Courts, which are under their jurisdiction. They likewise adjudicate upon +claims for compensation up to a certain amount, upon disputes regarding +the boundaries of land and property, and upon complaints relating to +water-supply, drainage, and the like, while cases of mendicancy, vagrancy, +and evasion of taxes are decided by these Courts summarily. + +The Cantonal Courts are, as already stated, the nearest equivalent in +Holland to the English Police Courts. Their members, however, are legally +trained and salaried men, though attached to each Court are several +unsalaried deputies. The Judges of these Courts are appointed for life by +the Crown, and the minor officiais for a term of years. All the petty +cases which in England come before the Police Court are in Holland +adjudicated upon by the Cantonal Courts. Poaching, personal violence, +cruelty to animals, damage done to dwellings, trees, or crops, are all +cases for these Courts, and so long as the fines imposed do not exceed +two guineas, their judgment is final, but in other cases the right of +appeal exists. + +Mention has just been made of the fact that even from the lowest Court of +Law in Holland the amateur judge is rigidly excluded. No one who has not +acquired the diploma of Doctor of Laws from one of the Dutch Universities +is allowed to assume any responsible duty associated with the +administration of justice. The same severe requirement is imposed upon the +legal profession in general. The possession of the diploma of Doctor of +Laws and Letters alone entitles a man to practise as advocate. Amongst +themselves the members of the legal profession also exercise a sort of +mutual surveillance by means of their Councils of Supervision and +Discipline, whose duty it is to take care that nothing is done by an +advocate which is contrary to the law or to the honour of the faculty. +These Councils are chosen from amongst the lawyers themselves in all towns +where there are more than fourteen resident advocates, but in smaller +places their duties are discharged by the Provincial or Arrondissement +Courts. Should a lawyer be guilty of any serious misdemeanour he is +promptly expelled from the Community of Advocates, and he may be even +refused the right to plead in any of the public Courts. In passing, it is +an interesting feature of the Dutch judicial system that in every place +where there is a Court of Justice, higher or lower, there exists a +Consultation Bureau where people without means may obtain gratuitous +advice in legal matters. Unless a charge laid before this Consultation +Bureau appears on the face of it to be unsustainable, the Bureau appoints +one of its members to act as legal adviser and counsellor to the applicant +free of cost. In criminal cases the President of the Court concerned +appoints a legal adviser for the accused, though the latter may choose +another advocate if he pleases. + +It will be interesting to enter one of these Dutch Courts of Law, and a +Cantonal Court may perhaps best serve as an example, since that resembles +most closely the English _forum_ of the people--the Police Court. Let us +assume that we are privileged persons, though engaged in serious legal +business. We are bidden to make an appearance at a quarter to eleven +o'clock in the morning, and, presenting ourselves at that hour, we take +our seats on comfortable chairs, ranged round a long square table in the +large public waiting-room. As many other people are coming in, and the +room threatens soon to be crowded, a considerate attendant, knowing that +we are in favour with the grave and reverend seigniors who preside over +the Court, shows us into another and smaller room, where one of the deputy +Clerks (Greffier) is seated working at his books. One by one other persons +come in, pay small sums of money, of which the deputy Clerk evidently +keeps an exact account, together with the names and addresses of the +payers, the amounts yet remaining due--everything, in fact, relating to +each person's case. We note that some of the payers inquire how much they +yet owe, and the sum being told them, they forthwith take their departure. +We learn that these are all people who were fined some time ago for petty +offences, and who are, or pretend to be, unable to pay the full amount at +once. Hence they are allowed to pay by instalments, and it is the duty of +the Clerk to keep an accurate account of their contributions. + +Our own turn having come round, we are now ushered into the Court, where +we see His Worship the Judge seated at the head--which happens to be the +middle--of a long table, covered by the inevitable green cloth. Papers, +ink-stands, and pens are before him; at his left hand sits the Clerk, and +next to him the first deputy Clerk. We observe, too, how carefully the +proprieties are observed in the matter of dress. All the judicial +functionaries present wear a costume consisting of a black toga reaching +to the heels, with a white 'bef,' or collar-band, hanging in front +halfway down to the waist, and also a black _barrette_, or square cap, as +in France. + +Five persons are seated in the chairs next to ours and opposite to the +Judge. They have just testified that the last will of their parent has +been duly carried out, and that each of them has received his share, being +in this case '3887 guilders 7½ cents'. (don't forget the half-cent, for +attention to minutiae is one of those characteristics of the Dutch which +strikes us at every turn). Presently the Judge asks the eldest of the +party whether his name is not 'So-and-so.' The answer being in the +affirmative, His Worship nods to the Clerk, who begins to read out in +clear and measured tones-- + +'I, So-and-so (description and address follow), hereby declare and testify +to have received as my share in the heritage of my parent the sum legally +apportioned to me, being 3887 guilders 7½ cents.' + +Then the Judge asks: 'Are you prepared to swear that this is true, and +that as far as you know nothing is kept behind so that justice is not +fully carried out?' This is the legal formula in use upon such an +occasion, and it produces the expected reply. 'Very well, then,' proceeds +the Judge, 'repeat after me, "So truly help me God Almighty!"' The +familiar words of the Dutch oath are accompanied by the uplifting of the +right hand and the pointing to heaven of the first two fingers. Then +follow the other four members of the family in order of age. All of them +swear in the usual words, except the second daughter, who demurs, on which +the judicial eyebrows are raised in surprise. It appears that the maiden +suffers from religious scruples, being firmly of opinion that swearing an +oath is forbidden by Holy Scripture. The Judge listens respectfully, and +simply answers, 'Then repeat after me, "I hereby solemnly declare that the +words read out to me just now are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing +but the truth."' The conscientious witness having no objection to a +simple affirmation, the words are promptly repeated, the business is +completed, and the party are all allowed to withdraw. + +Now our own turn has come. One of our party, we will assume, has been +appointed by the Cantonal Judge to be guardian over a minor son of another +of our number. All declare who, what, and whence they are, and that the +guardian has received his appointment with their common consent, while the +guardian himself makes formal declaration of accepting the duty. He is +thereupon sworn by the Judge in the occupation of his office, promising +'to act in all things as a true and faithful guardian should act, so truly +help me God Almighty.' These several incidents are fairly typical of the +sort of business which occupies the attention of these minor Courts. As we +leave the building, however, we learn another piece of interesting +information in the course of conversation with the deputy Clerk whose +acquaintance we first made. It is that the principle of 'punishment by +instalments' is applied in the case of the poorer classes, not merely in +the matter of fines, but also of imprisonment, save in criminal cases. +Many a poor man, for instance, who shortly after being sentenced to, say, +a week's or a fortnight's imprisonment has happened to find employment +would be ruined if compelled to go to prison at once. He is therefore +allowed, as in Russia, to select his own time for surrendering himself to +the prison authorities, and if, as often happens in poaching cases, two +different offences have brought upon him two terms of imprisonment, he is +allowed to come before the Judge, with the request that he may combine +these two terms, beginning his incarceration at a fixed date. The Court to +whose clemency he thus appeals generally grants the request, and the man +is thus enabled to work for his livelihood whilst the demand for labour +is general, and to go to prison when he happens to be out of work, and +would only be one mouth more to feed at home, where his wife and children +already find difficulty enough in making both ends meet. When imprisonment +is thus post-poned the offender receives from the Court a document, on the +presentation of which at the prison door the Master of the prison will +admit him as a temporary occupant of one of the cells. Old gaol-birds, +however, are not treated so tenderly, but the Judges soon learn by +experience when and how to apply this merciful arrangement, and when to +refuse it altogether. + +In general the statistics of crime give Holland a decidedly favourable +reputation. Serious misdemeanours are comparatively rare. Crimes like +burglary, theft, and the like, are certainly committed often enough, but +there is no evidence to show that they are on the increase, while life and +property are at least as secure in the large Dutch towns as anywhere else +in Europe. The Hague, though a city of 220,000 inhabitants, is +sufficiently protected by the comparatively small number of 220 policemen. +Rotterdam and Amsterdam both have a larger number of policemen per +thousand inhabitants than The Hague, but this is natural, owing to the +more heterogeneous character of the population of these great commercial +centres. It is a notable fact that in every town in Holland the +Burgomaster or Mayor is the supreme head of the police, and that the Chief +Commissary of Police must not merely co-operate with him, but is in the +last resort subject to his direct command. + +In spite of the fact that Courts of summary jurisdiction of the English +type do not exist in Holland, the police authority possesses a +considerable amount of power. Mention has been made of the process of +'verbalization' as applied to common misdemeanours. In the case of +drunkenness or fighting, however, the offenders are at once taken before +the Commissary of Police, who promptly deals with them. Offences against +which the police are entirely powerless are those of adulteration of food, +household quarrels so long as they remain within certain bounds, and an +offence of quite modern origin known as 'bottle-drawing' (_Anglicè_, +'long-firm frauds'). This last is an ingenious species of fraud which has +become very common in Holland of late years. A person orders a quantity of +goods from merchants of various towns on the pretence of opening accounts, +which he promises will quickly assume large dimensions. Consignment after +consignment of wares is sent, but never paid for, and when at last the too +trustful merchant discovers that he has been playing into the hands of a +swindler he gets no redress, for the artful schemer has disappeared, +taking with him the proceeds of the goods received. For a time this sort +of fraud was quite popular, but then the eyes of the business community +were opened, and the strong hand of the law fell upon several offenders +with crushing weight, after which 'bottle-drawing' lost in attractiveness. +On the whole, the police in Holland are commendably energetic as well as +dutiful, and the relationship between the police authority and the public +is generally a friendly and trustful one. + +It may be noted that the Dutch law strongly discourages divorce. In +general the present generation is apt to regard separation and divorce +with greater favour than its fathers did, but though this feeling may to +some extent influence the decisions of Dutch Judges in divorce +proceedings, the law itself, strictly interpreted, offers little hope to +those who would weaken the marriage tie. When married people disagree to +such an extent that a rupture between them is imminent, and a demand for +divorce is made, proof is required that the demand comes only from one +side, for divorce by common consent is against the law except in cases of +adultery. In every other case the Judge of the Cantonal Court must do his +utmost to effect a reconciliation. Should, however, a demand for divorce +be repeated, this same Judge, or a Judge of a Superior Court, must again +endeavour to bring the parties together, and only in the event of failure +is judicial separation _a mensâ et thoro_ pronounced, and this separation +must exist for a number of years--as a rule seven--before actual divorce +can take place. Nevertheless, both separation and divorce are far more +frequent nowadays than ten or twenty years ago, owing largely to the +judicial disposition to interpret the law more in accordance with what are +known as 'modern ideas.' + +Holland is one of the few countries which no longer tolerate capital +punishment. It was abolished thirty years ago, and, in spite of the +strenuous efforts of the reactionary party, it is not likely to be +re-established. Quite recently, Mr. C. Loosjes wrote a pamphlet in +advocacy of the reenactment of capital punishment, and his position at the +Ministry of Justice gave to this work considerable weight. His contention +was that since capital punishment was abolished, the crimes of murder, +attempted murder, poisoning, and parricide had increased, but Mr. Loosjes +failed to make sufficient allowance for the fact that during the period +covered by his statistics the population of the country had greatly +increased. The fact is that during the twenty years preceding abolition +considerably more crimes punishable by death occurred than during the +twenty years following that act of clemency, civilisation, and +enlightenment, while as compared with other countries Holland takes a very +favourable position indeed, standing, together with England, Belgium, and +Germany, at the head of the nations having the smallest number of crimes +of a kind usually punished by death. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +Religious Life and Thought + + + +The Dutch are a thoroughly religious people. Religious sentiments and +introspective inclinations were bound to develop and prosper in the Low +Lands, where vast plains of fertile land are only limited by the endless +sea below, the unfathomable blue of heaven above; where man feels himself +an atom, lost in the vastness of creation, yet safe, because he is placed +there by the will of a beneficent Maker. + +Introspective, personal, individualistic, self-centred are their painters +and their poets. These were greatly so when Holland's fleets ruled the +seas, and when Holland's influence and power were felt far beyond ils own +narrow frontiers; and they are still so in our days. + +This individualism accounts for the many sects found among the Dutch +Reformed. The Roman Catholic Church, the only episcopacy in Holland, +numbers only two sections: those--the majority--who admit the +infallibility of the Pope, and those--a small minority--who, although +recognizing the Pope as chief of the Church, do not agree with the +decisions of the Vatican Council of 1870, proclaiming this papal +infallibility. The Roman Catholic Church is a tolerably prospering +institution, thanks to the absolute freedom which it, like all the sister +Churches, enjoys in Holland, where, ever since the revolution of 1795, a +State Church has been an unknown thing. On the whole, however, its growth +is not keeping pace with the increase of the population. A former census +indicated that the Roman Catholics numbered two-fifths of the whole +population, but the latest puts them down at only one-third, and in the +Second Chamber of the States General there are only twenty-five Roman +Catholic members out of a total of a hundred representatives. Their +present organization dates from 1853, when the Liberals agreed to the +appointment by the Pope of one Archbishop in Utrecht, and four Bishops in +Haarlem, Bois-le-Duc, Breda, and Roermond. The bishoprics are divided in +decanates, and in 1858 the Pope completed the organization by instituting +chapters, each governed by one provost and eight canons. The Archbishops +and Bishops do not officially participate in political life in Holland, +although, as a matter of course, nobody can help noticing their influence +upon the electorate; the minor clergy as a rule are less discreet in this +matter than their chiefs, whereas the political leader of the Roman +Catholics in the Second Chamber is Dr. Herman Schaepman, a priest, a +professer at the Seminary of Rysenburg, a statesman, an orator, and a +poet, whose quintuple attainments are equally admired, although his +scientific importance is not generally considered to be quite as weighty +as the rest of his remarkable personality. + +Far more significant for Dutch religious life are the other two-thirds of +the population, Protestants to the back-bone. The former State Church, the +Netherlands Reformed Church, was left in a most awkward position when, in +1795, disestablishment was forced upon it. Up till 1848, when Jann Rudolf +Thorbecke saved Holland and the Royal House from another revolution, by +imposing a Liberal constitution upon the reluctant King William II, the +Netherlands Reformed Church had no sound, well-regulated status; but not +before 1870 was the last tie Connecting State and Church severed. The +State now no longer exercises spiritual or other supervision, but merely +pays a yearly allowance to the various clergymen, without vindicating or +claiming any rights in return. + +On the other hand, the State no longer pays or appoints University +professors to teach specific reformed theology; every Church of every +description looks after this on behalf of its own students, and whereas +the Roman Catholic clergy are educated at the Seminaries, the General +Synod, the supreme governing board of the Netherlands Reformed Church, +nominates two professors for each of the four Dutch Universities at +Leyden, Utrecht, Groningen, and Amsterdam. + +It is necessary to point here to a peculiarity in Dutch religious and +political life. At the time when Liberal politics were developing in +Holland, critical and historical research made itself conspicuous in the +teaching of leading Dutch ecclesiastics like Scholten and Kuenen. The +Reformation upset the Divine authority of the Pope; these modern critics +denied and destroyed the faith in the Divine authority of the Bible. They +were educated, and afterwards taught their lessons at the University of +Leyden, where the future Liberal statesmen of Holland were preparing for +their task; they had the same ideals, the same modes of thought. + +[Illustration: Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers +Worshipped Before Leaving for New England).] + +The ecclesiastics called themselves 'Moderns;' the politicians were +designated 'Liberals.' Both vindicated the supreme right of freedom in +everything: free criticism, free research, free thought, free speech. The +reign of pure intellectualism became supreme; every emotion, every +sentiment was dissected, measured by the measure of inexorable logic; and +rationalism, later doomed to bankruptcy, was in those days all-triumphant. + + +So it came about that the Liberals were 'Moderns' and the 'Moderns' +Liberals; and as the State was for a quarter of a century governed by +Liberals who involuntarily made the Church 'Modern,' populated by +Liberals, so it also came about that their religious opponents became +their political foes. + +These opponents were called 'Orthodox;' they felt this imposition of +liberty as the worst coercion one man could apply to another--the coercion +of the conscience. They did not care to see the Bible treated as a piece +of sheer human manufacture, however exalted; they felt it a burning shame +to have to pay taxes towards the maintenance of irreligious, or even +anti-religious, scientific chairs and colleges. They thought of their +stern forefathers, who had broken the power of the mighty Spanish Empire, +strengthened by God's Word and by that only. To them the Netherlands +Reformed Church and the Netherlands State lost their sound and only safe +basis by the assertion that there was something changeable, something +non-eternal in the Bible; that this Bible, revered as containing the Holy +Scriptures, might be replaced by any human System of thought to serve as +the foundation for the structure of the State. + +This blending of Modernism and Liberalism afforded to them absolute proof +that any abandonment of the ancient creed and the revered confession meant +ruin both to State and Church. So they followed the time-honoured practice +of the Dutch race; they separated, broke away from a species of liberty +which was not of their liking, and became 'Anti-Revolutionists' and +'Separatists' ('Afgescheidenen'); Calvin, with his staunch, severe +Protestantism, being their ideal as statesman and spiritual leader. + +The Dutch language has two words for one thing: 'Hervorming' and +'Reformatie.' But there is a vast difference between the Netherlands +'Hervormde' and the Netherlands 'Gereformeerde' Churches. The former is +the late State Church, the latter is the Church of the 'Afgescheidenen,' +who, before joining the Netherlands Gereformeerde, called themselves +'Christelyk Gereformeerde.' These two joined in 1892, and are now known as +the 'Gereformeerde Kerken' (the Reformed Churches). + +Their leader is Professer Abraham Kuyper, the present President Minister +of the Netherlands. He, like Dr. Schaepman, is a born orator, a prolific +author, a scientific ecclesiastic, a strong democratic leader of men, an +admirable organizer, and perhaps the most brilliant journalist in Holland; +but beyond this, he is a staunch Protestant of the strictest Calvinistic +type, to whom the Roman Catholic Church is a blasphemous and idolatrous +institution. In 1879 he created the 'Society for Higher Education on a +Reformed Basis,' and in 1880 his 'Free University' was consecrated in the +'Nieuwe Kerk' (the New Church) at Amsterdam, Dr. Kuyper ever since the +opening acting as one of the professors. His flock is now strong in +numbers, but his and their faith is stronger and has worked miracles, +building churches and schools, maintaining preachers and teachers, finding +money for everything, and finally, for the second time, gaining a +political victory, with the help of such strange auxiliaries as the Roman +Catholics. What unites them is the conviction they have in common that a +State and a Government not led themselves by religion must lead a nation +to perdition. To them Liberal Governments, although theoretically free +from clerical influence, are actually led and unduly influenced by the +'Modern' Protestants of Holland. These 'Modern' Protestants reject the +dogma of the Holy Trinity and various other dogmas which the Roman +Catholics and the Orthodox Protestants consider the essence of the +Christian creed; they are, therefore, in the opinion of the latter, mere +atheists, and consequently unfit to rule the destinies of a nation. + +[Illustration: Utrecht Cathedral.] + +These 'Modern' Protestants came to the fore during the last fifty years. +The University of Groningen taught a humanism, which created a reaction +towards the ancient confessors of the creed, the 'reveal,' or awakening. +Subsequently modern cosmosophy tried to adjust its opinions to modern +science and the results of modern research in every branch of human +knowledge. This was a great blow to the ancestral faith and the venerable +Confession. In those days Coenraad Busken Huet published his 'Letters on +the Bible,' popularizing the scientific criticisms of the Sacred Book. +Gradually Leyden's University took the lead, Johannes Henricus Scholten, +Abraham Kuenen, and the Utrecht philosopher Cornelis Willem Opzoomer +assisting the new movement by their profound knowledge, their irresistible +logic, their brilliant style, and their high enthusiasm. In those years +Holland went through ail the throes accompanying the appearance of new +life; it was a time of intellectual stress and strain, a time of +controversial storm in which unrelenting criticism and critical research +carried away everything that could not exist in the light of exact science +and exacter thinking. + +Jacobus Izaak Doedes, Johannes Jacobus van Oosterzee, Chantepic de la +Saussaye, the successors of Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Jan Rudolf +Thorbecke's greatest opponent, and Isaäc Da Costa, Willem Bilderdyk's +famous pupil, defended the ancient creed, but the General Synod was +'Modern' and the 'Orthodox' had a difficult time. + +In numbers of places the 'dominees,' or preachers, were Orthodox, and in +order to provide their own followers with spiritual fare, the 'Moderns' +established in 1870 the 'Nederlandsche Protestantenbond,' or Netherlands +Protestant League. This League sees that all over the country 'Modern' +sermons are preached, 'Modern' Sunday Schools instituted, meetings of +Protestants arranged, and everything is done that can support or promote +religious life. + +Besides these two large bodies of Protestants, the Orthodox and the +Moderns, Holland has a good many Lutherans, Baptists, or Mennonites, and +Remonstrants. Of the Lutherans the most numerous are the Evangelical +Lutherans, who faithfully maintain the Augsburg Confession, while the +Moderns, known as Reinstated Lutherans, abandoned that organ of doctrine. +There is not, however, much animosity between the two sects at the present +time, neither making a strong point of dogma, but both giving a prominent +place to the demands of Christian practice. + +The Mennonites--so called after the Dutch reformer Menno Simons +(1496-1561)--were in olden times the most persecuted Protestants of all. +Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists were equally hard upon them, +and many of them lost their lives on account of their convictions. They +have no test, no church, no rite, no clergy. They have fraternities, and +in these the minister is the 'voorganger' (guide or leader), though his +education, social position, and general duties are the same as those of +all other Protestant ministers. In Amsterdam they have their own Seminary, +and the names of Professors Samuel Muller, Sytske Hoekstra Bzn, Jacob +Gysbert de Hoop Scheffer, and Jan van Gilse are honoured in the country +and outside the 'General Baptist Society,' as their central body is +called. Their teaching and preaching appeal not only to the religions, but +very strongly to the ethical and moral tendencies of humanity. + +The Remonstrants (formerly Arminians) came upon the scene towards the end +of the sixteenth century. Dirk Vorlkertsz Coornhert had written a very +able refutation of the dogma of predestination. The Town Council of +Amsterdam ordered Jacob Arminius to Write a book against Coornhert's work. +But behold! when Arminius settled down to the task, and read Coornhert's +argument carefully, he came to the conclusion that the other was right, +and from an opponent he turned into a powerful ally. This happy lack of +bias has ever been the particular feature of Arminian doctrine, and, like +the Mennonites, the Remonstrants hold that the value of religion is +determined by its beneficial influence on ethics. Considering the ethical +or social fermentation which Holland, like every other country, has +witnessed during the last decades, it is not surprising to find a great +many 'Modern' members of the Netherlands 'Hervormde Kerk' joining the +Remonstrant fraternity, which affords absolute liberty as regards dogma +and confession, and at the same time satisfies their altruistic +inclinations. + +It is one of the commonest contentions of the age that ethics and religion +can exist in one being independently of each other. One very advanced sect +of modern Dutch Protestants--not yet, however, numbering a great many +adherents--does not go quite to this extreme, but in the 'Vrye Gemeente,' +or 'Free Community,' they represent religion as a thing complete in +itself, a thing purely pertaining to the individual, personal spiritual +life. This 'Free Community' was established in 1878 by two Amsterdam +ministers, Pieter Hermannus Hugenholtz and Frederik Willem Nicolaas +Hugenholtz. They neither observe Ascension Day nor Whitsuntide; they +abolished Baptism and the Eucharist; and, however charitable the members +may be in their private capacities, the Free Community, as such, does not +practise poor-relief or charity in any form. + +In this connexion it is interesting to add a few words about Dutch Free +Masonry. The Dutch Free Masons of the present day are not so much +moralists as ethicists. The well-being of the commonwealth based upon the +well-being of every member--spiritually, intellectually, and +materially--is their threefold aim. They feel and express profound +admiration for every form of religious life, utterly indifferent as to the +existence or non-existence of any dogma accompanying it, since they freely +realize how strong a motive religion is to ethics; they admit Roman +Catholics, Orthodox or Modern Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, Mohammedans, +Atheists and Agnostics into their fraternity, no confessional test +whatever being put to any one; they only require faithful co-operation +towards the general betterment of human society as a whole. + +The Hebrew Church has also enjoyed perfect freedom ever since the +constitution of 1848 made the right of congregation absolute and +incontestable. But after being fettered during so many centuries, it took +even this energetic and tenacious race some twenty years to shake itself +free from the lingering influences of long-protracted restraint. It was +only in 1870 that the Netherlands Israelitic Congregation was established; +the Portuguese Jews in Holland have a separate governing body. Modern and +ancient views clash here, as everywhere else, but the consciousness of +their illustrious history, not sullied, but adorned with greater +brilliancy by centuries of persecution, becomes gradually more powerful in +the mind of the Dutch Jew, and invigorates his natural and national +tendency towards the ancient rites and doctrines of his classic creed. + + + + +Chapter XX + +The Army and Navy + + + +Although the Dutch maintained their independence in the sixteenth century +against the most formidable regular army in Europe, and also did their +fair share of fighting in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they +have long ceased to aspire to the rank of a military Power. The separation +from Belgium in 1830-31 put an end to the Orange policy of creating a +powerful Netherland State from Lorraine to the North Sea which could hold +its own with either France or Prussia, and since that period Holland has +gradually sunk, and seemingly without discontent, into the position of a +third-rate Power. This has taken place without any apparent loss of the +old love of independence, but it has necessarily been accompanied by a +diminution not only of the military spirit, but of military efficiency and +readiness. The spectacle of immense armies of millions of men in the +neighbouring States seems to have produced a sense of helplessness among +the people of the Netherlands, and to have led them to believe that +resistance, were it needful, would be futile. The inglorious campaign of +1794, when Pichegru occupied Holland almost without a blow, serves as a +sort of object-lesson to demonstrate the hopelessness of any attempt at +resistance, instead of the creditable campaign of 1793; when the Dutch +expelled Dumouriez from their country. Curiously enough, the Transvaal War +has revived national hope and confidence by showing what a well-armed +people without military training can do when standing on the defensive. +Time is necessary to prove whether this new sentiment will remove the +fatalistic feeling of helplessness that has been creeping over Dutch +public men, and brace them to efforts worthy of their ancestry. + +The sense of impotency has not been confined to the land forces alone. In +that matter it was felt that a nation of less than five millions could +not compete with those that numbered forty and fifty millions. But the +same sentiment exists also with regard to maritime power, where the +competition is not of men, but of money. The immense navies of modern +days, and the enormous cost of their maintenance and renovation, seem to +exclude small States from the rank of naval Powers. Holland, with the +finest material for manning a navy of any Continental State, can be no +exception to the general rule. Her little navy is a model of efficiency, +her small cruisers of 5000 tons are not surpassed by any of the same +size, and the _morale_ of her officers, one may not doubt, is worthy of +the service that produced not only the Ruyters and Tromps of old days, +but Suffren, our most able opponent during the long Napoleonic struggle. +None the less, the Dutch navy remains a small navy quite overshadowed by +the immense organizations of the present age, and without any possible +chance of competing with them. + +This self-evident fact exercises a depressing influence on Dutch opinion, +which has latterly shown a marked desire to ally the country with some +other. An alliance with Belgium, that of the North and South +Netherlanders, the old Union of the Provinces broken in 1583 and +imperfectly restored from 1815 to 1830, would be hailed with delight. The +difficulty of attaining this consolidation of Netherland opinion and +resources, on account of pronounced religious differences, has resulted in +the formation of a considerable body of opinion favourable to an alliance +with Germany. For the moment, events in South Africa have placed the old +English party in a hopeless minority. + +Although the Dutch possess in probably an unabated degree all the sturdy +characteristics that distinguished them of old, it seems as if prosperity +had somewhat blunted the edge of patriotism, at least to the extent of +rendering them unwilling to submit to the hardships of the conscription, +when fully applied to the whole people. As the consequence the Dutch do +not come under the head of an armed nation, and the war effective of their +army is less than 70,000 men. + +The regulations applying to the army are based on the law of 1861, which +was modified in one important particular by an Act of 1898. The army was +to be raised partly by conscription and partly by voluntary enlistment. +The annual contingent by conscription was fixed at 11,000 men. Every man +became liable to conscription at the age of nineteen, but as the right of +purchasing exemption continued in force until the Act of 1898 referred to, +all well-to-do persons so minded escaped from the obligation of military +service. At the same time its conditions were made as light as possible. +Nominally the conscripts had to serve for five years, but in reality they +remained one year with the colours, and afterwards were called out for +only six weeks' training during each of the four subsequent years. The +regular army thus obtained mustered on a peace footing 26,000 men and 2000 +officers, and on a war footing 68,000 officers and men and 108 guns, +excluding fortress artillery. Considering the interests entrusted to its +charge, the Dutch army must be pronounced the weakest of any State +possessing colonies--a position of no inconsiderable importance from the +historical and political point of view. + +It will be said, no doubt, that Holland possesses other land forces +besides her regular army, and this is true, but they are by the admission +of the Dutch themselves ill organized and not up to the level of their +duties. There is the Schutterij, or National Volunteer force--perhaps +Militia would be a more correct term, because the law creating it is based +on compulsion. The law organizing the Schutterij was passed in April, +1827, by which ail males were required to serve in it between the ages of +twenty-five and thirty, and from thirty to thirty-five in the Schutterij +reserve. An active division is formed out of unmarried men and widowers +without children. This division would be mobilized immediately on the +outbreak of war, and would take its place alongside the regular army. It +probably numbers five thousand men out of the total of 45,000 active +Schutterij. The reserve Schutterij does not exceed 40,000, but behind ail +these is what is termed indifferently the Landsturm, or the _levee en +masse_. There is only one defect in this arrangement, which is that by far +the larger portion of the population has never had any military training +except that given to the Schutterij, which is practically none at all. A +_levee en masse_ in Holland would have precisely the value, and no more, +that it would have in any other non-military State which either did not +possess a regular army of adequate efficiency and strength, or which had +not passed its population through the ranks of a conscript army. + +The Dutch Schutterij is ostensibly based on the model of the Swiss Rifle +Clubs, and the obligatory part of its service relates to rifle-practice at +the targets, but there the similarity ends. There is no room to question +the efficiency of the Swiss marksmen, and the tests applied are very +severe. But in Holland the practice is very different. The Schutterij +meetings are made the excuse for jollity, eating and drinking. They are +rather picnics than assemblies for the serious purpose of qualifying as +national defenders. Even in marksmanship the ranges are so short, and the +efficiency expected so meagre, that the military value of this civic force +is exceedingly dubious. It could only be compared with that of the Garde +Civique of Belgium, and with neither the Swiss Rifle Corps nor our own +Volunteers. + +Curiously enough, there is, however, an offshoot of the Schutterij based +also on the old organization of an ancient guild called the +"Sharpshooters." Its members are supposed to be good shots, or at least to +take pains to become so, and they practise at something approaching long +ranges. But it is a very limited and somewhat exclusive organization based +on a considerable subscription. It is the society or club of well-to-do +persons with a bent towards rifle-practice. An application to the +Schutterij of the obligations forming part of the voluntary and +self-imposed conditions accepted by the Sharpshooters would, no doubt, add +much to its efficiency, and might in time give Holland a serviceable +auxiliary corps of riflemen. + +Besides the home army, Holland possesses a very considerable colonial army +which is commonly known as the Indian contingent. This force garrisons +Java, Sumatra, and the other colonies in the East. The army of the East +Indies numbers 13,000 Europeans and 17,000 natives, principally Malays of +Java. Besides this regular garrison a Schutterij force is maintained in +Java. It consists of 4000 Europeans and 6000 natives. The Europeans are +the planters and the members of the civil service. The natives are the +retainers of some of the native princes, and the overseers and more +responsible men employed on the European plantations. The total garrison +of the Dutch East Indies is consequently a very considerable one, viewed +by the light of its duties, but allowance has to be made for the +interminable war in Atchin, which keeps several thousand men permanently +engaged, and never seems nearer an ending. + +The Dutch authorities find great difficulty in recruiting their army for +the East Indies, and with the growth of prosperity this difficulty +increases. Indeed, the garrison could not be maintained at its present +high strength but for the numerous volunteers who come forward for this +well-paid service from Germany and Belgium. At one time these outside +recruits became so numerous owing to the tempting offers made to them by +the Dutch authorities that the two Governments interested presented formal +protests against their proceedings. Germany has always been very sore on +the subject of losing any of her soldiers, and Belgium has much need of +all the men likely to serve abroad in the Congo State. There are still +foreigners of German and Belgian race in the Dutch Indian army, but any +design of turning it into a Foreign Legion on the same model as that of +the force which has served France so well in Algeria and her colonies has +fallen through. + +The only active service or practical experience of war which the Dutch +army has had since the end of the struggle with Belgium has been in the +East Indies. The Lombock expedition of 1894 is still remembered for its +losses and disasters, but on that occasion the Dutch displayed a fine +spirit of fortitude under a reverse, and ended the campaign by bringing +the hostile Sultan to reason. The long struggle with the Atchinese has +been marked by heroism on both sides, and is evidence that the Dutch have +not lost their old tenacity. At the same time the Government finds +considerable difficulty in obtaining the requisite number of voluntary +exiles to preserve its possessions in the Eastern Archipelago, and it may +find itself obliged to reduce the effective strength of its garrison. + +Moreover, the hygienic conditions are still extremely unfavourable, and +the rate of mortality among Europeans in Java and the Celebes is +particularly high. It may be no longer true, as was said with perhaps +some exaggeration in the time of Marshal Daendels at the beginning of +last century, that the European Dutch garrisons die out every three +years, but the death-rate is certainly high, and a considerable part of +the garrison returns invalided by fever a very few months after its +arrival in the East. At present the Dutch Indies are absolutely safe +because England does not covet them, and would never dream of molesting +the Dutch in them provided she herself remains unmolested. But should +international competitions break out in that quarter of the world Holland +might experience some difficulty in maintaining her garrison at an +adequate strength for the proper discharge of her international duties, +but this contingency is not likely to present itself for another twenty +or thirty years. + +The troops of the regular Dutch army will compare favourably with any of +their neighbours. They are not as stiff on parade as the Germans, and they +are more solid than the French. Their physique is good, although, owing to +the practice of purchasing a substitute, which has too lately ceased to +allow of the change to come into full effect, the infantry contains an +abnormal number of short men, which gives a misleading idea of the average +height of the race. The minimum height of the infantry soldier is 5 ft. +1½ ins., which is very low for a people whose general stature is quite +on a level with our own. There is certainly one point in which the Dutch +soldiers strike the observer as being different from their neighbours. +They seem light-hearted and jovial, not at all oppressed by the severe +claims of discipline, and at the same time quite free from the slouch that +gives the Belgian linesman a non-military appearance. + +The strength of the Dutch army lies undoubtedly in its corps of officers, +a body of specially qualified men fitted to discharge the duties that +devolve on the leaders of any army. The majority of these pass through the +Royal Military Academy, an institution from which we might borrow some +features with advantage. Candidates are admitted between the ages of +fifteen and eighteen, and undergo a course of four years before they are +eligible for a commission. As the charges at the Academy are limited to +_£22 10s_. a year, the expense of becoming an officer forms no prohibitive +barrier, and in a course of training spread over four years the cadet can +be turned into a fully qualified officer before he is entrusted with the +discharge of practical duties. Moreover, his training does not stop with +his leaving the Academy. It is supposed to be necessary to complete it by +a further course in camps of instruction, and subsequently by what are +called State missions in the temporary service of other armies. This +practice is fairly general on the Continent, although it is never resorted +to by the British, who are less acquainted with the organization of +Continental armies than is the case with even third or fourth-rate States. + +The headquarters of the Dutch Engineers are at Utrecht, of the Artillery +at Zwolle, of the Infantry at The Hague, and of the Cavalry at Breda. +Utrecht is the most important of these military stations, because the +Engineers are the most important branch of the army, and also because it +is the centre of the canal and dyke System of Holland. The school or +college of the State Civil Engineers, to whom is entrusted the care of the +dykes, is at Utrecht. They are known as Waterstaat, and Utrecht may be +held to supplement and complete the machinery existing at the capital, +Amsterdam, for flooding the country. In theory and on paper, the defence +of Holland is based on the assumption that in the event of invasion the +country surrounding Amsterdam to as far as Utrecht on one side and Leyden +on the other would be flooded. There are many who doubt whether the +resolution to sanction the enormous attendant damage would be displayed. +It is said that the national spirit does not beat so high as when the +youthful William resorted to that measure in 1672 to baffle the French +monarch, and then prepared his fleet, in the event of its failure, to +convey the relics of Dutch greatness and the fortunes of Orange to a new +home and country beyond the seas. On that occasion the waters did their +work thoroughly well. But it is said that they might not accomplish what +was expected of them on the next occasion, while the damage inflicted +would remain. Nothing can solve this question save the practical test, but +there is no reason to believe that at heart the Dutch race of to-day is +less patriotic or resolute than formerly. + +At the same time a very important change has to be noted in the views of +Dutch strategists. Formerly the whole system of national defence centred +in Amsterdam, and it must be added that the dykes have been mainly +constructed with the idea of flooding the country round it. This was the +old plan, sanctioned by antiquity and custom, of defending the capital at +all costs, and making it the final refuge of the race. But latterly the +opinion has been spreading among military men that Rotterdam would make a +far better place of final stand than Amsterdam, because, the forts of the +Texel once forced, the capital might be menaced by a naval attack from the +Zuyder Zee or by the Northern Canal. In old days Amsterdam was safe from +any naval descent, but the introduction of steam has laid it open to the +attack at least of torpedo flotillas. The entrance to the Meuse, it is +represented, could be made impregnable with little difficulty, and the +approaches to Rotterdam from the land side are far more dependent on the +proper restraining of the waters within their artificial or natural +channels than those to Amsterdam. There is another argument in support of +Rotterdam. It would be easier for Holland's allies to send aid there than +to Amsterdam, while a strong position at Rotterdam would senously menace +any hostile army at Utrecht, and contribute materially to the defence of +Amsterdam as well. But the Dutch are a slow people to move. Amsterdam is +supposed to be ready to stand a siege at any time, whereas Rotterdam's +defences are mainly on paper. The garrison of Rotterdam is only a few +hundred men, and to convert it into a fortified position would, no doubt, +entail the outlay of a good many million florins. Still, the conviction is +spreading that Rotterdam has supplanted Amsterdam as the real centre of +Dutch prosperity and national life. + +The Schutterij is, singularly enough, not popular. The reason for this is +not very clear, as the duties are quite nominal, and in no material +clegree interfere with civil employment. The distaste to any form of +military service is tolerably general, and the advanced Radical party has +adopted as one of its cries, "Nobody wishes to be a soldier." Probability +points, however, not to the abolition of the Schutterij, but to its being +made more efficient, and consequently the conditions of service in it must +become more rigorous. There is one portion of the duties of the Schutterij +which is far from unpopular with the men of the force. When a householder +neglects to pay his taxes one or more militiamen are quartered on him, and +he is obliged to supply his guests not merely with good food and lodging, +but also with abundant supplies of tobacco and gin. Apart from such +incidents, which one may not doubt from the nature of the penalty are +exceedingly rare, the Schutterij seems to have rather a dull and +monotonous time of it. + +There is one fact about the Dutch army that deserves mention. It is +extremely well behaved, and the men give their officers very little +trouble. The discipline is lighter than in most armies. There is an +unusually kindly feeling between officers and men for a Continental force, +and at the same time the public and the military are on excellent terms +with each other. This is, no doubt, due to the very short period served +with the colours, and to the fact that the last four years, with the +exception of six weeks annually in a camp or fortress, are passed in civil +life at home. + +The Dutch navy, although small in comparison with its past achievements +and with its present competitors, is admitted to be well organized, +efficient in its condition, and manned by a fine _personnel_. It is +generally said, perhaps unjustly, that the pick of the manhood of Holland +joins the navy in preference to the army. One fact shows that there is no +difficulty in obtaining the required number of recruits to man the fleet, +for while the nominal law is that of conscription for the navy as well as +for the army, all the necessary contingent is obtained by voluntary +enlistment. No doubt the large fishing and boating classes provide +excellent material, and a comparatively short spell of service on board a +man-of-war offers an agreeable break in their lives. The Dutch being a +nautical race by tradition as well as by the daily work of a large portion +of them, there is nothing uncongenial in a naval career. No difficulty is +experienced in obtaining the services of the seven thousand seamen and two +thousand five hundred marine infantry who form the permanent staff of the +Dutch navy, and if the country's finances enabled it to build more ships, +there would be no serious difficulty in providing the required number of +men to furnish their crews. + +In 1897 some steps were taken in this direction, and a credit of five +millions sterling for a ship-building programme was voted. Its operations +have not yet been brought to a conclusion, but a torpedo fleet has been +created for the defence of the Zuyder Zee, supplementing the defences at +Helder and the Texel. Something has also been done in the same direction +for the defence of Batavia and the ports of Java. The Dutch navy might be +correctly described as a good little one, quite equal to the everyday work +required of it, but not of the size or standard to play an ambitious +_rôle_. We should not, however, overlook the fact that its addition to the +navy of another Power would be as important an augmentation of strength as +was the case when Pichegru added the Dutch fleet to that of France by +capturing it with cavalry and horse artillery while ice-bound in the +Zuyder Zee. Nor can we always count on a Duncan to end the story as at +Camperdown. + +The impression left on an observer of the military and naval classes in +Holland is that they are not animated by a very strong martial spirit. +Clothed in a military costume, they are still essentially men of peace, +who would be sorry to commit an act of violence or do an injury to any +one. The officers as a class are devoted to the technical part of their +work, and are thoroughly well posted in the science of war. But whether it +is due to the long peace, to the spread of prosperity among all classes of +the community, or to the lymphatic character of the race, it is not easy +to persuade one's self that the Dutch army, taken as a whole, is a +formidable instrument of war. + +This feeling must be corrected by a study of history, and by recognizing +that there are no symptoms of deterioration in the sturdy qualities of the +Dutch people. Physically and morally the Netherlanders of to-day are the +equals of their forefathers, but the conditions of their national life, +the fortunate circumstances that have so long made them unacquainted with +the terrible ordeals of war, have diverted their thoughts from a bellicose +policy, and have confirmed them in their peaceful leanings. How far these +tendencies have diminished their fighting-power, and rendered them unequal +to accept or bear the sacrifices that would be entailed by any strenuous +defence of their country against serious invasion by a Great Power, must +remain a matter of opinion. Perhaps their organization has become somewhat +rusty. Reforms are admitted to be necessary. The annual contingent is +altogether too small for the needs of the age; a great and efficient +national reserve should be created; and in good time the army ought to be +raised to the numbers that would enable it to man and hold the numerous +and excellent forts which have been constructed at all vital points. The +Dutch plans of defence are excellent, but to carry them all out a very +considerable army would be necessary, and at the present moment Holland +possesses only the skeleton of an army. + +Leaving the question of numbers and military organization aside, only +praise can be given to the Dutch soldier individually. He is clean, civil, +good-tempered, and with a far closer resemblance to Englishmen in what we +regard as essentials than any other Continental. The officers are in the +truest sense gentlemen free from swagger, and not over-bearing towards +their men and their civilian compatriots. They represent a genuine type of +manhood, free from artificiality or falsehood. One feels instinctively +that they say what they think, and that they will do rather more instead +of less than they promise. + + + + +Chapter XXI + +Holland Over Sea + + + +Holland holds the second place among the successful colonizing nations, +though Powers like England, France, and Germany surpass her in the actual +area of their colonies and protectorates. Besides her East Indian +possessions, which form by far the most important part of her colonial +empire, she holds Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, and six small islands, +including Curaçao, in the West Indies, and her colonial subjects number +in all more than thirty-six millions, being as many as the colonial +subjects of France and at least seven times the population of the +Netherlands in Europe. The East Indian Archipelago belonging to the +Netherlands consists of five large islands and a great number of smaller +ones. It is not within the scope of a book like this to go into details +of geographical division, but a glance at the map will show us that the +three groups which make up this dependency are extended over a length of +about three thousand miles, and inclucle Java and Sumatra, Borneo, +Celebes, New Guinea, the Timor Laut archipelago, and the Moluccos. The +northern part of Borneo is a British possession, and the eastern half of +New Guinea is divided between England and Germany, while half of the +island of Timor is Portuguese; the rest of the archipelago forms the +possession known as Netherlands India, or the Dutch East Indies. The +most important and the most densely populated of these islands are Java +and Sumatra; at the last census, in 1899, Java alone had twenty-six +millions of inhabitants, more than four times as many as in 1826, but the +richness of its soil is so great that it could support a much larger +population, though the island is only about the same size as England. + +Java was taken by the English in 1811 from the French flag, but was +restored at the Peace of Vienna to the Netherlands, together with some of +the other Dutch colonies. As Dr. Bright remarks in his 'History of +England,' 'it has been believed that its value and wealth were not +thoroughly known or appreciated by the Ministry at the time.' It has now +become by far the most important of the Dutch dependencies, and the +favourite colony for fortune-hunters. + +Considering the great wealth of the Dutch Indies, it is a little +surprising that so few young men are tempted to go out there to seek +their fortunes. As is usually the case in the tropics, those parts of the +coasts which are low and marshy are very unhealthy for Europeans, who +cannot stay in such places for any length of time without falling victims +to malaria, though the Malays do not seem to be affected by the climate; +but higher up, from 500 to 1000 feet above the sea, it is healthy enough, +and up the hills, in the larger islands, the climate leaves little to be +desired. The temperature generally varies between 70 and 90 degrees all +the year round, though there is a certain amount of difference between +one island and another. North of the equator the rainy monsoon lasts from +October to April, and the dry season from April to October, while on the +south side these seasons are reversed. On the line, however, the +trade-winds and monsoons appear very irregularly, because there are four +seasons instead of two--that is to say, two rainy and two dry--and the +weather is also subject to frequent changes of a local character, +especially in the neighbourhood of mountain-ranges and volcanoes. With +the exception of Borneo and the central part of Celebes all these islands +are volcanic. In the principal group, which stretches from Sumatra and +Java to the Timor Laut archipelago, there are no less than thirty-three +active volcanoes, of which twelve are in Java, besides a number of +so-called extinct ones which may at any moment burst into renewed life. +Some of the smaller islands are merely sunken volcanoes, such as Gebeh, +for instance, and the Banda Islands, where the 'Goonong Api' +(Fire-Mountain) is a living proof. The best known of all these volcanoes +is the terrible Cracatao, one of the three which may be seen in the +Straits of Sunda. Readers may remember the great eruption of 1886, when +half the island of Cracatao and part of the mountain, which was split +clean in two, were swallowed up in the sea, and parts of the coasts of +Java and Sumatra were overwhelmed by the tidal wave that accompanied the +outburst, ships being lifted bodily on to the land and left perched among +the hills. In one day and night 100,000 persons perished, and except a +slight earthquake, which, as earthquakes are not uncommon in that part of +the world, was naturally not regarded as serious, there was no warning of +the impending disaster, for the crater had shown no signs of life for 200 +years. During the eruption a roar as of distant artillery could be heard +in the middle of Java, fully 400 miles from the scene. + +The form of the islands prevents the existence of very large rivers; the +largest are in Borneo, the only non-volcanic island in the archipelago +which can boast of three navigable rivers each about 400 miles long. +Owing to the narrowness of Java and Sumatra, the rivers flowing towards +the north-east coasts of these islands are very rapid, and as they are +liable to be suddenly swollen by heavy rains, canals have been dug, and +others are in course of construction, to ensure a regular outflow and +protect the land from floods. In an undertaking of this kind the Dutch are +quite at home, for, as every one knows, they are past masters in the art +of taming the waters; but they have not to push back the sea here, as they +have done and are still doing in their native country; the rivers do that +for them, by bringing down masses of gravel and mud, which form wide banks +at their mouths and are soon overgrown with trees. The lighthouse at +Batavia, in Java, was built about the middle of the seventeenth century at +what was then the entrance to the harbour; now it is two and a half miles +from the entrance, the shore having advanced that distance in 250 years. + +Before passing to the question of government, it may be well to notice the +principal races with which the Dutch have to deal. Besides the native +population, the Dutch Indies contained in 1892 about 446,000 Chinese, +20,000 Arabs, and 26,000 other Asiatics, but only 55,000 Europeans, +including the soldiers, many of whom are Germans. The greater part of all +these are found in Java. Of the remaining 355 millions the majority are +Malays, including Malays proper and several kindred races, and to this +last class belong the Javanese, who live in Java, Madura, Bally (or Bali), +and Lombok. Natives other than Malays are the Dyaks, in the interior of +Borneo; the Battaks, in the interior of Sumatra; and finally the Papuans, +who inhabit New Guinea, or Papua, and some of the small islands near. +These Papuans are said to be of the same race as the Australian +aborigines, and are the only black people in these islands, the other +inhabitants being light brown or copper-coloured. In religion, most of the +Malays are Mohammedans, but the people of Bally and Lombok are still +Brahmins, while the Dyaks and Battaks are of very primitive faiths. From +remote times until 1478 Brahminism and Buddhism were the principal +religions, but in that year the faith of Islam began to supersede them. +The ancient religions were responsible for a degree of civilization never +arrived at by the Mohammedans, traces of which are seen in the numerous +ruins of cities and temples that must have been of great beauty and +grandeur which are found in Java, and also in the Javanese literature, +which is written in its own peculiar characters, and the 'wayangs,' or +shadow-plays, which are performed on every festive occasion, and all of +which refer to a history of conquest and wars waged in the times of +Brahminism. + +Here the problem which confronts the Dutch authorities is the old one of +uniting under one Government populations differing in blood and religion, +a problem which always presents great difficulties and even a certain +amount of danger. The system adopted resembles, to some extent, that +applied to certain native States in British India, and the islands are +governed by native kings and princes, under the paternal supervision of +the Netherlands India Government, which consists of a Governor-General, or +Viceroy, and a Council of four Councillors of State, of which the Viceroy +is President. Under these there are three Governors and thirty-four +Residents, all Europeans, with several Assistant-Residents and +'Controleurs,' each of whom has a district assigned to him, in which he +has to maintain order and see that the land is kept in proper cultivation. +The Indian princes are made Government officials by the fact of being +paid by the Dutch Government, and bear the official titles of Regent, +'Demang,' etc., but they also keep their own grander-sounding titles, such +as 'Raden Adipatti,' and so on, of which they are naturally very proud. It +is the duty of a Resident to advise the Regent of his district and at the +same time to keep a watch on him and see that he does not oppress his +subjects. If a Regent is proved to be guilty of oppression, or in case of +sedition or the fostering of rebellion, he is deposed by the Government, +and a better man is appointed in his place, if possible one of his own +relatives, so that the lower classes may be protected and the authority of +the native nobility be upheld at the same time. In some 'up-country' +districts, in Borneo and Celebes, however, the native rulers are +practically independent, and the Dutch Government is not at present +inclined to assert its authority by force of arms; while in the north-west +of Sumatra, though the Atchinese pirates have at last been suppressed, the +war party is not yet extinct. + +Throughout these dependencies the aim of the Government is to rule the +inhabitants through men of their own race, not to substitute +foreigners for natives; and if fault can be found with this policy it +is that too little restraint is put upon the intermixture of the white +and coloured races. + +The splendid fertility of the soil and the great quantity of land yet +uncultivated naturally led the Dutch to seek some means by which the +natural advantages of their islands might be put to better use, and to +this end they set to work to overcome the indolent habits of the natives, +who were not inclined to do more than they considered necessary for their +own subsistence, and to induce them to devote more of their time and +energies to agriculture. In return for good roads and bridges and the +protection afforded by the Government, the natives were induced to give a +certain amount of their time to the cultivation of coffee, sugar, indigo, +and other crops. In this way they were taxed not in coin but in labour; +and this system, known as the 'Culture System,' has produced very good +results, especially in Java and Madura. Gradually, however, under the +influence of the younger members of the governing nation, the cultivation +of sugar and partly that of coffee also was dropped by the Government, and +left to private enterprise, but, supervision by the Government being +thereby abandoned, cases occurred of abuse of power by the +_concessionnaires_; and though much has been done to prevent such abuse, +it must be admitted that the condition of native workmen is not so good in +the private concessions as it was under the direct authority of the +Government. + +Meanwhile, the outlook is promising; the development of the natural +resources of the islands goes steadily on, though the rate of progress may +not be particularly rapid, and the inhabitants are generally peaceful and +well-behaved, while their number increases at a rate which seems to +indicate continued and growing prosperity. The schools, too, are doing +good work, and more and more of the natives are learning the language of +their rulers. When a Malay has learned enough Dutch to express himself +fairly clearly in that language, he is very proud of the accomplishment, +and seldom misses an opportunity of displaying his knowledge. + +One of the greatest drawbacks to the moral advance of the native is the +bad example set by Europeans, on which it will be needful to say more +later. Things are not nearly so bad in this respect as they formerly were, +but still the unprincipled life which many of the white men are leading +gives rise to doubt in the native mind as to the blessings of Western +civilization. + +That the native races are generally well-disposed towards the Dutch is +borne out by the number that take service under the Government as police +and as soldiers. Every two or three miles along the Government roads in +Java one may meet a 'Gardoe,' or patrol of the country police, consisting +of three bare-footed Javanese constables, in uniform of a semi-European +cut and armed with kreeses. + +As we have already seen, the Army which the Dutch maintain in their East +Indian colonies is quite distinct from the Home Army of Holland. On their +arrival the men are quartered in barracks, and the officers and married +non-commissioned officers find houses at a moderate rent close by. The +barracks consist not of single buildings but of many separate ones, so +that the different races among the native troops may be kept distinct. +Malays, Javanese, Madurese, Amboinese, Bugis, Macassarese, and the rest +must all have separate buildings to themselves. Formerly there were +Ashantees too, but the recruiting of these was stopped when the colony of +St. George del Mina, on the Gold Coast, was transferred to England on the +surrender of British claims in the north of Sumatra; very good soldiers +they were, but cruel in war, giving no quarter, and very difficult to +restrain in the heat of action. The native troops are officered by +Europeans, but the sergeants and corporals are always of the same race as +the men under them. + +Great care is taken to safeguard the health of the troops, not only in the +arrangement of barracks and in the selection of positions for garrisons, +which are chosen as much on hygienic as on strategic grounds, but also by +the establishment of military hospitals. In most large towns, and in +smaller places on the coast where forts have been built, there are +military hospitals, and to these any European, whether soldier or +civilian, who falls ill is immediately taken; in fact, no others exist, +except some sanatoria recently founded in the hills. A naval officer who +often visited these hospitals, as well as hospital ships in war time, +describes them as 'models of neatness, cleanliness, order, and +usefulness.' 'Life in such a hospital,' he declares, 'is a luxury, not to +be compared with anything of the kind in neighbouring colonies.' + +For many years a considerable force has been constantly employed in +Atchin, and a number of ships of war have been cruising along the coast to +assist in the suppression of piracy. + +The Colonial Fleet is made up of some warships built in Holland and others +built in India, expressly for the Indian service, including a number of +small coasting-steamers and sailing-vessels, and a steamer or two +specially detailed for hydrographical work. The necessity for these last +arises from the shoals and coral-reefs which abound in the Java and Flores +Seas, in the Straits of Macassar, and among the Moluccos, and from the +fact that the creeks and river-mouths are very shallow, and full of +convenient hiding-places for pirate proas; it is most important, +therefore, that both men-of-war and merchantmen should be kept supplied +with good charts. + +Piracy is an evil which the Colonial Fleet is specially designed to check, +and it used to be very bad at one time before the Ballinese War of 1845. +In the year before this, a Dutch merchantman, the _Overyssel_, stranded on +the coast of Bally, and the crew were massacred, and ship and cargo looted +by the Ballinese. This led to three expeditions; one in 1845, another, +which was undertaken with an insufficient force and ended in disaster to +the Dutch, in 1847, and the third and final one, successfully carried out +by an army of 10,000 men and six warships, together with 6000 auxiliary +troops from the island of Lombok. But while piracy was thus put down to +the east of Java, the Atchinese pirates grew bolder than ever in the west, +and complaints from Malay traders who were Netherlands subjects became +more and more frequent. Numerous punitive expeditions were sent against +the piratical Rajas in the north-west of Sumatra, but in most cases the +real culprits escaped. At last, about 1873, the Government resolved to put +an end to this state of things, and a force under General van Swieten +seized the Kraton, or chief fortress. General van der Heyden took over the +command in 1877, and soon captured and fortified Kota Raja, and two years +later, though his troops suffered heavily from the climate, he had the +whole country of Atchin subdued. The Home Government, however, misled by +the apparent submission of the enemy, did away with military rule before +they had made certain that no treachery was meditated, and on the arrival +of a civil Governor all the advantages which had been won were again lost, +and at last a state of war had to be proclaimed once more. From that time +onward the Atchinese War became a chronic disease, but since an aggressive +policy was adopted in 1898 the war party in Atchin has rapidly diminished, +and it is now almost extinct. Fighting of a guerilla kind is reported from +time to time, but peace is so far restored that the General is able to +send some of his men home, and the people can cultivate their rice-fields +and pepper-gardens unmolested. They are for the most part well disposed +towards the Dutch, whose officers, in their proclamations, have always +been careful to explain that the war was only against the murderers and +robbers who made the coasts and country unsafe, and that no one would be +harmed so long as he went peacefully about his business. Piracy on the +Atchinese coast is now also a thing of the past, and will be so as long as +the Government remains firm. + +To turn to more peaceful subjects, Netherlands India is favoured above +most lands in the richness and variety of its products, its mineral wealth +alone being sufficient to make it a most valuable possession from a +commercial point of view. A part of the Government revenue is derived from +the sale of tin, which is found in several islands, and coal-fields exist +in Sumatra and Laut, while gold is found on the west coast of Borneo and +also in Sumatra, where the Ophir district no doubt owes its name to the +presence of the precious metal. Another mineral product is petroleum, +which has made the fortunes of several lucky colonists; it is found in +many places, but the principal supply comes from Sumatra. These are some +of the chief products, but they by no means exhaust the list, nor is the +wealth of the colonies confined to minerals; there are the +pearl-fisheries, for example, amongst the little islands lying south-west +of New Guinea, and the Moluccos contribute mother-of-pearl and +tortoise-shell, but the real wealth of the islands lies in the +extraordinary fertility of the soil. Most of the land is clay, coloured +red by the iron ore which it contains, and will grow almost anything, +besides being very suitable for making bricks. Sugar, tea, coffee, indigo, +and tobacco are grown in large quantities for export, and the principal +crops cultivated by the natives are rice (in the marshy districts), maize, +cotton, and many kinds of fruit which are also grown in British India. +Most of the inhabitants are tillers of the soil, but the maritime natives +are naturally occupied chiefly in the fisheries, and it is a very pretty +sight, at any little fishing village, to see the boats start out for the +hoped-for haul. Just before sunrise scores of little fishing-boats with +bamboo masts and huge triangular mat-sails slip out of the creeks before +the fresh land-wind, which lasts just long enough to carry them to the +fishing-ground in the offing, and about four o'clock in the afternoon a +sea-breeze springs up, and back they all come, generally laden with +splendid fish. The evening breeze often attains such strength that the +little boats would capsize if it were not for a balancing-board pushed out +to windward, on which one or two, or sometimes three, men stand to act as +a counterpoise, so that it may not be necessary to shorten sail. The +Malays excel in boat-building, and rank very high in the art of shaping +vessels which offer the least possible resistance to the water, and their +boats fly over the surface of the sea in the most wonderful manner. If we +except the rude tree-trunks used here and there, the vessels made by the +Malays may serve, and have served, as models for swift sailing-craft all +over the world. + +Amongst the other industries for which the Malays, and the Javanese +especially, are noted, the principal is the manufacture of textile +fabrics; sometimes these are very skilfully dyed in ornamental patterns, +and show considerable artistic taste. + +Besides boat-building and weaving, the crafts of the blacksmith and +carpenter should be mentioned, and also that of the gold and silver smith, +for this indicates the source of many of the treasures with which wealthy +Dutch homes in the old country abound. + +Now that the war in Atchin is practically over it is not unlikely that +the next few years may see greater advances in the commerce and industries +of Netherlands India, especially as the trade returns report that a great +industrial awakening is taking place at the present time in Holland, in +which case there will be a rush of emigrants to the colonies. As has been +said before, the climate out there is not unhealthy as a rule, but of +course Europeans have to adapt their life to their surroundings. Profiting +by the example of the natives, they have learned to make their houses very +airy and cool. A large overhanging roof shades the entrances, front and +rear, and the windows are without glass, except in the old cities, its +place being taken by bamboo Venetian blinds. Verandahs run along the front +and back of the house, which has generally one story only, and never more +than two, and the rooms open either on these verandahs or on a central +room which divides the house through the middle. The kitchen and +store-rooms are in outbuildings at the back, and the garden all round the +house is planted with cocoanut, banana, and mango trees, for the sake of +their shade as well as for the fruit. + +On paying a visit to such a house you go up two or three steps on to the +front verandah, where a servant-boy offers you a chair and a drink, and +then goes to find his master, who presently joins you. You are never +asked to 'come in;' if the front verandah is too hot, an adjournment is +made to the back. Sometimes, in the interior of the country, visitors are +received in the garden, where they enjoy their cheroot Indian fashion, +reclining rather than sitting. But this _dolce far niente_ does not kill +work, for merchants in the towns work pretty hard, and have to be at +their offices during the heat of the day, from nine to five, and even on +Sunday, if it happens to be mail-day. Other people take life rather +easier, especially in the country, where the routine is as follows more +or less: rise at six, bathe, breakfast at seven; then dress and go to +work at nine; at twelve o'clock lunch, after which one lies down to sleep +or read for a couple of hours; tea at four, and then a second bath. After +five it is cool enough to dress and go for a walk or drive until +dinner-time, and after dinner you may go for another drive or visit your +neighbours. On Sundays you go to church from eleven to twelve, and take +things easy for the rest of the day. + +Travelling, if for any distance, is done at night, both by Europeans and +natives, and if a native has to walk far he usually carries a mat, and +when the day begins to get hot he unrolls his mat and lies down on it by +the roadside. It does not surprise any one, therefore, to find seeming +idlers asleep in the daytime along the roadside. Naturally, the little +wayside shops which are found at every corner are not shut up or removed +at night, as most of their trade is done then, but if customers are few +the shopkeeper will fall asleep among his wares. The Government roads are +well guarded by the native police, and at regular intervals there are +stations where fresh horses can be procured if they are bespoken in time +by letter or telegraph. + +The colonist's life does not seem to be a very hard one on the whole, +though no doubt there are drawbacks, such as, for instance, the want of +schools. At present many Dutch children born in India are sent to Holland +to be educated, not, as in the case of Anglo-Indians, for the sake of +their health, but because there is not a sufficient number of schools in +these colonies. This want will be remedied in time, so that colonists may +be spared the trouble and expense of sending their children to Europe; but +the only Dutch schools in Java that I know of are the 'Gymnasium' at +Willem III (Batavia) and one high school for girls. Native schools are +more numerous, and are being multiplied not only by the Government but by +the missionaries. The attitude of the Indian Government towards missionary +work has changed immensely for the better in the last forty years, and the +labours of the missionaries are now appreciated very highly by both the +Indian and the Home Government, and deservedly so, for the task of the +Government has been very much lightened through the improvement in the +attitude of the natives, owing largely to the work of the missions. + +As to the life and customs of the natives, it is not necessary to +describe all the different races, but the Malay villages deserve notice. +In Java and Sumatra these are not arranged in streets, but the houses are +grouped under large trees, and are separated from the road by a bamboo +fence, on the top of which notice boards are fixed at intervals bearing +the names of the villages; these are necessary, because it is often +difficult to see where one village ends and the next begins. In the open +spaces may be seen a few sacred 'waringin' trees, in which are hung +wooden bells, used to sound an alarm or call the villagers together. +Before the house of a native Regent is an open square, with a 'Pandoppo,' +or roof on pillars in the centre, and here meetings are held, +proclamations read, and distinguished visitors received. The houses are +built of bamboo and roofed with palm-leaves; and sometimes they have +floors of split bamboo, but often the hard clay soil serves as a floor. +There are usually two or more sleeping-places, called 'balé-balés,' also +made of bamboo, split and plaited, and over these another floor, which +forms a sort of loft or store-room. There is no fireplace, all the +cooking being done outside. Such a house can be bought for about five +shillings! It takes a few men two or three weeks to build one, but to +take it down and remove it to a new site is a matter of only a few hours. +Near the houses are the stables, where the buffaloes and carts are kept, +and here and there is a well, over which hangs a balancing-pole with a +bucket at one end and a stone at the other. + +The children play about naked until they are ten years old, when they +dress like their elders, and consider themselves men and women. The +costume of the Malay women consists of the 'sarong,' a cloth about 3½ +yards long and 1½ wide, which is wound round the body and held by a belt +and then rolled up just above the feet; over this a wide coat called a +'kabaya' is worn, and over all a 'slendang,' which is very like a +'sarong,' but is worn hanging over one shoulder, and in this is slung +anything too large to be easily carried in the hands--even the baby. The +men wear either 'sarongs' or trousers, or both, and a cotton jacket, and +are always armed either with kreeses or chopping-knives, carried in their +belts; the weapons are for cutting down cocoanuts and bamboo, and for +protection against snakes and tigers. Both sexes wear their hair long, the +men with head-cloths and the women with flowers and herbs, and all go +bare-footed. The men are very good horsemen, and ride, like the Zulus and +other coloured men, with only their big toes in the stirrups. + +In Bally and Lombok the inhabitants are of the same race as the people of +Java and Sumatra, but differ in religion and habits, having never been +wholly subjected by the Mohammedans. The difference is chiefly noticeable +in the construction of their houses, which are of stone in many cases, +and built in streets. Each house has three compartments and a fireplace, +or altar, which stands in the middle, opposite the door, the floors are +sometimes paved, and the roofs are often covered with tiles instead of +leaves, and supported by carved pillars. + +These Brahmins have numerous temples, which are quite different from +anything in the neighbouring islands, being built of brick and divided +into sections by low walls, but without roofs; walls and gates are painted +red, white, and blue, and inside stand a number of altars, on which +offerings are laid. Brahminism survives in some of the other islands, at +some distance from the coast, and occasionally a religious festival ends +in a riot between Brahmins and Mohammedans. + +The staple food of the Malay races is rice, which is cooked very dry, with +fried or dried fish or shrimps and vegetables, and flavoured with chilis, +onions, and salt. Dried beef and venison are also used, and wild pig and +chickens and ducks are plentiful; other articles of food being maize, +sweet potatoes, and many kinds of fruit, such as cocoa-nuts, bananas, +mangoes, mangusteens, and so on. In the Moluccos the staple crop is not +rice, but sago, which is prepared from the sap of the sago-palm. To an +inhabitant of Java or Sumatra the cocoa-nut tree is indispensable; when a +child is born, a nut is planted, and later on, if the child asks how old +he is, his mother shows him the young palm, and tells him that he is 'as +old as that cocoa-nut tree.' The nuts are boiled for the oil, and the +white flesh is eaten, cooked in various ways, generally with other food. +All kinds of provisions and other goods, from butcher's meat to needles +and thread, are sold at the 'passars,' or markets, which are attended by +large crowds. + +Mention has been made of the moral example set by some Europeans to the +natives. Generally the relations between the white and coloured races are +those of superiors and inferiors, but in the matter of matrimony there is +a difference. Many white men in Netherlands India never dream of marrying; +they take to themselves 'Njais,' or house-keepers. The same thing is done +in other colonies, at least in provinces far removed from European +society, when native customs allow it. The ancient customs of the Malays +and Javanese did not prescribe any religious ceremony for marriages; they +had their 'adat,' or customs, which were as strictly adhered to as if they +had been religious, but there was nothing consecrating the marriage tie. +Moreover, their notions of hospitality, which are similar to those of most +primitive races, no doubt encouraged the above-mentioned free marriages, +or at least they explain how it was that the Malay women had no objection +to becoming the 'Njais' of Europeans. Where such a woman was the daughter +of a prince or chief, the European who took her was invariably some high +official, whose position brought him into contact with noble Javanese +families. These young women are remarkably graceful, even fascinating, and +besides have received a good Javanese education, and it is not surprising +that such 'marriages' were sometimes happy and permanent. + +The sons were sent to Europe to be educated, being entrusted to the care +of a guardian, uncle, or friend, and on their return to India soon found +employment in the service of the Government; the girls stayed at home, and +generally married well. + +Such instances, however, are rare; more often the man regarded his 'Njai' +merely as a temporary helpmate, and if he saw a chance would marry some +rich European girl, when the Indian wife would be set aside--'sent into +the bush,' as the phrase was. That such behaviour should have roused the +wrath and hatred of the discarded wives and their relatives was but +natural. Often the European bride, sometimes the faithless husband too, +fell by the hand of a murderer who could never be found, or was poisoned +by a maidservant or cook who was bought over to assist in the work of +vengeance. The cast-out children sometimes played a part in these +tragedies; if not, they certainly retained a hatred of Europeans +generally, and rumours of mutiny were the consequence. + +How this state of things can be remedied is a question which has long +occupied the attention of the Government. Gradually, however, the mixed +population is becoming more educated, and can find employment in +Government and mercantile offices, as all excel in beautiful handwriting. +A better feeling generally exists, and a keener sense of social duty is +coming over the Europeans, so that a good many have really married the +mothers of their children, a thing which fifty years ago was never heard +of. There now exists a mixed race of Eurasians, children of the children +of European fathers and Indian mothers, which at one time threatened to +become a source of danger and insurrection, but all fear of trouble in +that quarter is past. Of the 'inland children' many are now receiving a +good education. In the Government schools they can learn enough to hold +their own in point of knowledge against a large proportion of the +Europeans in the colony, and they find employment in offices and shops, on +the railway and post-office staffs, and on public works almost as quickly +as pure whites. + + + + +Index + + + +Administrative system +Amusements, national +Army, the +Art, modern + +Canals and their population, the +Capital, life in the +Capital punishment +Characteristics, national +Christmas customs +Church, relation of State to +Churches, Dutch +Clergymen, Dutch +Colonies, the Dutch +Costume, rural +Court, the +Customs, popular + +Divorce, the law of +Dykes, the + +Easter customs +Education, public + +Farms and farmers +Freemasonry, Dutch +Friendly Societies +Funerals, customs at + +Games, children's +Girls, freedom of Dutch + +Home life + +Indies, the Dutch + +Justice, administration of + +'Kermis,' the + +Labour, conditions of +Law court, description of a Dutch +Literature and literary life + +Marriage and marriage customs +Music + +National Characteristics, types, +Navy, the +Newspapers, the + +'Palm Paschen,' +Peasantry, the +Poets, modern Dutch +Political life and parties +Press, the +Professional classes, the + +Queen Wilhelmina + +Readers, the Dutch as +Reading Societies +Religions life +Renaissance, the literary +'Rommelpot' +Rural customs + +Schools, the +Sculpture in Holland +Skaters, the Dutch as +Social life +Society, Dutch +Song, national love of +State, relation of Church to +St. Nicholas, festival of +Student life +Sunday in the country + +Theatre, the +Thrift, Dutch + +Universities, the + +Village life + +Wages of labour +Wedding customs +Women, position of +Working classes, the + + + +The End + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Dutch Life in Town and Country, by P. 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