seriously cited as an argument that it is quite unnecessary. A doctor told
me once of a rich old patient of the farming class near Utrecht who, on
being ordered a bath, said, 'Any amount of physic, but a bath--never!' On
the principle that you cannot do everything, personal cleanliness is apt
to go to the wall, and the energies of the Dutchwomen of the lower middle
and the poorer classes are concentrated on washing everything _inanimate,_
even the brick footpath before the houses, which accounts for the clean
appearance of the Dutch streets in town and country. Even a heavy downpour
of rain does not interfere with the housewife's or servant's weekly
practice, and you will see servants holding up umbrellas while they wash
the fronts of the houses. This excessive cleanliness, together with the
other household duties of mother and wife, fills up the ordinary day, and
a newspaper or book is seldom seen in their hands.

Passing on to the middle class, we find the mistress's time largely taken
up with directing the servants and bargaining with the tradesmen, who in
many cases bring their goods round from house to house. The lady of the
house takes care to lock up everything after the supplies for the day have
been given out, and the little basket full of keys which she carries about
with her is a study in itself. Even in the upper class this locking up is
a general practice, for very few people keep a housekeeper. The mistress
also takes care of the 'pot.' This is an ingenious but objectionable
device to make a guest pay for his dinner. On leaving a house after dining
you give one of the servants a florin, and all the money so collected is
put into a box, and at certain times is divided between the servants, so
that a servant on applying for a situation asks what is the value of the
'pot' in the year. There are signs of this practice of feeing servants
after a dinner being done away with, for it spoils the idea of
hospitality, and one's host on bidding you 'Good-bye' resorts to many
little artifices in order not to see that you do fee his servant, added to