Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1884 — THE DECOROUS DUTCH. [ARTICLE]

THE DECOROUS DUTCH.

How the People tin in Holland, and Some of Their Carious Customs. The man is “lord of all" in Holland, and woman is almost without the shadow of estimation. He is a sort of a bear, tame and good nattired, but still full of the bruin element. His countrywomen are actually afraid of him, especially when outside of their own door. Not that the men are dangerous, for rarely is it heard that the bears have bitten. Look out in the street, and yon will see that the ladies walk in the road and the gentlemen on the sidewalk. Always so, no matter how muddy or dusty the road is, or how many teams are passing. Watch them, and you cannot help but notice that the gentlemen and ladies never speak to each other on the street. That would he a breach of etiquette that society would hardly pardon. Even when a man meets his wife he is not permitted to ask what he shall bring home for dinner! The gentleman bows first, the same as in France, and a lady may have hows from men whose names she does not even know. And the bowing is a marvel! The forehead almost touches the knees in the act, and there is no half-way work about it—no nodding or a sweeping touch of the hat, but an entire removal of the hat to supplement that intense how- Everybody bows, then take off their hats to one another and profoundly bow. A lady is never known to pass a club- * house or a knot of men on the street. If she is obliged to pass up a street where there is a club she does not dare to brave the dreaded windows, but will cross the street until she is past the house, and then cross back again. I have seen a lady of my acquaintance make ihe round of several streets to avoid a club-house, being at the time in a great hurry to reach an apothecary, whose shop was next beyond the club. If a lady, alone, or accompanied by other ladies, must needs enter a confectionery, a library, or other places where men will naturally go, and finds a gentleman or two there, she will retire as precipitately as if she had seen a case of small-pox. The men know this, but unless my lord, the man, has quite finished his business, he will not retire. The lady retreats in a most undignified manner, and the human bear finishes his book or chocolate, even though the lady is waiting at the door for him to leave. But a change comes over the woman at home. No longer is she the afraid body of the street. She has at hand the kettle of hot water, the flat-irons, and other articles of defense that a woman can use if necessary, and no longer does she fear the bears. She is quite “at home.” She does not put herself to any trouble for the sake of her gueßts. In the morning she never dresses for breakfast, but comes to the table en demi-toilette, her hair on the crimping pins, a calico gown loosely buttoned over skirts by no means new, with no collar, her shoes unbuttoned, and frequently without stockings. After breakfast it is quite awhile b e f° re she gets dressed, and meantime, if she receives callers, she goes into the parlor in her breakfast toilet. But the social etiquette is not to be compared to that of the table. If one is curious the other is supremely droll. It is amusing to see the people eat. They take their plateful as soon as they are helped and cut it up into morsels. Then they lay the knife in front of the plate, and, leaning on the table with their left hand, proceed to eat all with the fork. I never saw food eaten otherwise except' that some desserts are shoveled with the spoon instead of the fork, two spoons lying with knife and fork at each plate. All this is etiquette. Beside the plate a hand-rest is sometimes placed, for it is necessary that one should half recline on the table 1 There is no such thing as changing covers, and, be the courses two or twenty, they are served on the same plate, and the same knife, fork, and spoon are used. The napkins are kept in service until the washerwoman has to meet a big bill for soap 1 One supper, at which I was a guest, I shall always remember. At 9 o’clock the hostess left the cardboard, spread the tablecloth, and placed the dishes. Then she brought out a spirit lamp, •which she lighted with a match from the match-box on the table, and. having ground some coffee in a little hand-mill, she set the case tier e over the lamp, where it boiled merrily during the meal. The bread came on in a loaf and in a long basket, and was cut into thick slices, and so passed around. The butter was in a little round earthen pot, each person scraping out with his own knife as much as he wanted for each pidce of bread. The cheese came to the table in a similar pot, and was also scraped and eaten spread on the bread over the butter. Near the bread basket, on a round tray, was a partly out loaf of brown bread, and slices of three or four kinds of cake, including the invariable fruit cake. Preserves were placed on the cloth in a shallow dish, and it was passed around. The milk, fresh from the dairy, was drawn from a jug, that, in the absence of a sideboard, naturally reposed on a mat by my lady’s side. After the meal a china wash-bowl was brought out and the dishes washed on the tea-table by the mistress, who used the snowiest of serviettes, and neither spilled a drop nor wet her fiflgers. While the dishwashing wss going on the family guests remained sitting. — Cor. Springfield Republican.