Dutch Life in Town and Country Part 3

Thirty years ago the 'Raadhuis' would have been the village inn, barber's shop, and the princ.i.p.al 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 cla.s.s, he is too well educated to a.s.sociate 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 cla.s.ses. 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 pa.s.sing 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 n.o.body 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 pa.s.s ail along a row in which to receive the 'gifts.' Generally one cent is given by each of the congregation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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, b.u.t.ter, 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-cla.s.s 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 a.s.sembles 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 gla.s.ses. 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 pa.s.ses 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 cla.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 cla.s.sed 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, b.u.t.ter, and cheese in abundance at the markets, especially the two last-named articles, as nearly all the milk is sent to the 'Zuivelfabrieken,' as b.u.t.ter 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 a.s.sist 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 r.e.t.a.r.ding 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 a.s.sist 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 p.r.o.nounced 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: An Itinerant Linen-Weaver.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 s.p.a.ce 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 part.i.tion 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 pa.s.sage.

In some farmhouses there is no part.i.tion 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 'p.r.o.nk-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 'p.r.o.nk-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 s.e.x 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 ap.r.o.n, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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: b.u.t.ter used to be one of the wares they took to market, but now so many b.u.t.ter-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 s.e.xes 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 cla.s.s 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 b.u.t.termilk 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 b.u.t.termilk, 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 sc.r.a.ps 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.