Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1891 — Women in Holland. [ARTICLE]

Women in Holland.

A correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing about Holland, says: “You cross a railroad track, and casting a glance along the iron path, a woman, waving a white signal flag, catches your eye. She is the watch-woman at the crossing. On every railroad in Holland this position is filled by a woman, and railroad officials have assured me that no accident has ever been caused by watch-woman’s carelessness. They received twenty guldens (eight dollars per month. A man would require double that salary, and he might get intoxicated once in a while. Distinctions in privileges between married and single women are so thoroughly established here by social customs as to be observed in the every-day association of the sexes. A native will readily discover whether the couple walking on the street in front of him are married or not, this discovery being made easy by the strict adherence of the populace to the ancient custom compulsorily introduced into the'country when under the iron, rule of “Alva the Bloody. ” An unmarried lady always takes the right arm of her escort, while the married one selects the left side of her husband. So deeply has this custom entered into the life of the Hollanders, that at a church wedding the bride enters the edifice on the right side of the groom, the young wife returning on the left side of her husband when the ceremony has been performed.”