('Schiedam') under their chairs which they would have steadily sipped at
intervals, puffing at their pipes during the whole sitting. Their wooden
shoes ('Klompen'), scrubbed for the occasion to a brilliant white with the
help of a good layer of whitening, might have been seen in a row standing
on the door-mat, for no well-educated farmer would ever have dreamed of
entering a room with shoes on his feet, and he would have taken his
'pruim,' or quid of tobacco, which every farmer chews even when smoking,
out of his mouth and laid it on the window-sill, the usual receptacle for
such things, and there it would lie in its own little circle of brown
fluid, to be replaced either in his own or his neighbour's mouth after the
meeting was over. Nowadays a farmer goes to the 'Raad' dressed in a suit
of black clothes and with his feet encased in leather boots. He never
wears 'Klompen' save when at work in the field or on the farm. He also
talks of his 'Gemeente,' for all Holland is portioned off into
'Gemeenten,' and a village is such in as good a sense as large towns like
The Hague and Amsterdam, and better if anything, for the taxes there are
not so high. Each 'Gemeente' is separately governed by a Burgomaster and
'Leden van den Raad', which is nothing more nor less than a County
Council, presided over by a prominent man nominated by the sovereign, and
not elected by the members, of which some are called 'Wethouders,' and
are, like the other members, elected by the residents of the district.
These Wethouders, with the Burgomaster, form the 'Dagelyksch Bestuur.' All
ordinary matters concerning the 'Gemeente,' such as giving information to
the Minister of War about the men who have signed for the militia, or
about any person living in their 'Gemeenten,' are regulated by the
'Dagelyksch Bestuur,' though matters of import are brought before the
'Raad.' Next in importance to the Burgomaster come the 'Gemeenteontvanger,'
who receives all the taxes, and the 'Notary, who is the busiest man in the
village, although the doctor and clergyman or priest have a large share in
the work of contributing to the welfare of the villagers.