Dutchmen have not a very high opinion of the mental and administrative
qualities of their womenfolk outside of what is considered their sphere,
but for all that the women of the upper class are certainly more clever
than the men, but as they do not take any practical part in the questions
which are 'burning,' as far as any question does burn in this land of
dampness, their interest is academic rather than real. The wives of the
small shopkeeper, the artisan, and the peasant take much the same place as
women of these classes in other European countries. They are kind mothers,
thrifty housewives, very fond of their 'man,' not averse to the
fascinations of dress, and in their persons and houses extremely trim and
tidy, while the poorest quarters of the large towns are, compared with the
slums of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, pictures of neatness. It is
true that windows are seldom opened, for no Dutch window opens at the top,
and so in passing by an open door in the poor quarters of a town one gets
a whiff of an inside atmosphere which baffles description; but the inside
of the house is 'tidy,' and one can see the gleam of polished things,
telling of repeated rubbings, scrubbings, and scourings. In fact,
cleanliness in Holland has become almost a disease, and scrubbing and
banging go on from morning until night both outside and inside a house.

Probably the abundant supply of water accounts for the universal washing,
for, not content with washing everything inside a house, they wash the
outside too, and even the bark of any trees which happen to lie within the
zone of operations. The plinths and bricks of the houses are scrubbed as
far as the arms can reach or a little hand-squirt can carry water. In
cottages both in town and country there is the same cleanliness, but the
people stop short of washing themselves, and the bath among the poorer
classes is practically unknown. People of this kind may not have had one
for thirty or forty years, and will receive the idea with derision and
look on the practice as a 'fad,' while the case of many animals is