linen-press--the pride of every Dutch housewife--and when a daughter of
the house marries several rolls of this linen are added to her trousseau.
The wealth of a farm is, in fact, calculated by the number of rolls. These
are handed down for generations, and often contain linen more than a
hundred years old. The wool, when woven, is made up into thick petticoats,
of which every well-dressed peasant woman wears six or seven.

The education of the farmer is not very liberal. A child generally goes to
school until he is twelve years of age, and during that time he has learnt
reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a rule, however, he does not attend
regularly, as his help is so often wanted at home, especially at
harvest-time, and although the new education law--the 'Leerplichtwet' of
July 7th, 1901--has made school attendance compulsory, yet a child is
allowed to remain at home when wanted if he has attended school regularly
during the six previous months. The interest of the parent and the
inclination of the child are thus combined to the retarding of the
intellectual progress of the boer. And yet, although they are so badly
taught, the peasantry have a very good opinion about things in general,
and if you assist them in their work and show them that you can use your
hands as well as they can they have great respect for you, and will listen
to anything you like to tell them about or read to them. The women
especially have very pronounced views of their own, a trait not confined
to Netherland womenfolk. To go about among them is at present the best way
of educating them, and when you have once won their regard they will go
through fire and water for you; but they despise any one who 'does
nothing,' for, like most manual workers, they do not understand that
brain-work is as hard as manual labour.

[Illustration: An Itinerant Linen-Weaver.]