Dutch Life in Town and Country

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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.

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