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Dutch Life in Town and Country by P. M. Hough
page 18 of 217 (08%)
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
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