The Position of Women
The Dutch woman, generally speaking, is not the 'new woman' in the sense
of taking any very definite part in the politics of the country. Neither
does she interest herself, or interfere, in ecclesiastical matters.
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
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
which you are very likely to shake hands with him with the florin in your
hand, which you have been furtively trying to transfer to the left hand
from the right, and very often the guest drops the wretched coin in his
efforts to give it unseen. It is to be hoped that the ladies of Holland
will succeed in abolishing a custom which is disagreeable alike to
entertainer and entertained.
The women of the upper middle class are certainly much better educated
than their English sisters. They always can speak another language than
their own, and very often two, French and English now being common, while
a few add German and a little Italian, but most of them read German, if
they do not speak it. French is universal, however, for the French novel
is far more to the taste than the more sober English book. The number and
quality of these French books read by the Dutch young lady are enough to
astonish and probably shock an English girl, who reads often with
difficulty the safe 'Daudet' ('Sapho' excepted), but the young Dutchwoman
knows of no _Index Expurgatorius,_ and reads what she likes. At the same
time the classics of England and Germany are very generally read and
valued, and many a Dutchwoman could pass a better examination on the text
and meaning of Shakespeare than the English-woman, whose knowledge is too
often limited to memories of the Cambridge texts of the great poets used
in schools.
But, well educated as the Dutchwoman undoubtedly is, there is nothing
about her of the 'blue-stocking,' and she does not impress you as being
clever until a long acquaintance has brought out her many-sided knowledge.
The great pity is that her education leads to so little, for there are
very few channels into which a Dutchwoman can direct her knowledge.
Politics turn for the most part on differences in religions questions,
which are abstruse and dry to the feminine mind, and of practical
political life she sees nothing. There is no 'terrace,' no Primrose
League, no canvassing, no political _salon_, no excitement about
elections; and added to these negatives, women get snubbed if they venture
opinions on political matters, and young people generally look upon
politics _et hoc genus omne_ as a bore, and the names of the great
statesmen at the helm of affairs are frequently not even known by the
younger generation. Little interest is also taken in the army and navy,
owing to the fact that there is so little active service in the former and
to the smallness of the latter; and woman does not care much about
orders, regulations, manoeuvres and comparative strengths--she wants
'heroes,' and to know what they have done, and does not consider what the
'services' might, could, or should do. The officers who have served in
India and have seen active service rank high in her estimation, but as
these are few, beyond the affection bestowed upon soldier husband,
brother, or lover, which is chiefly displayed in anxiety lest they should
be sent to do garrison duty in some town where social advantages are small
or _nil_, there is no great interest taken in army affairs by the
Dutchwoman. As to the navy, they philosophically acquiesce in the fact
that as a ship must sail on the water they must patiently bear the
necessary separation from their sailor friends.
When we come to things ecclesiastical there is still less interest taken
in the Church. The Roman Catholic Church is outside the question, for the
position of the laity there has been well described as 'kneeling in front
of the altar, sitting under the pulpit, and putting one's hand in one's
pocket without demur when money is required.' The Protestant laity,
however, do not take any great interest in the National Church, and while
there are deaconesses devoted to nursing and all good works, as there are
_soeurs de charité_ in the Roman communion, yet the rank and file of
Dutchwomen do not trouble about their church beyond attending it
occasionally--one may say, very occasionally. There is but little
brightness in the services of the Reformed Church, no ritual, no scope for
artistic work, no curates, and above and beyond ail, no career in the
Church for the clergy. At the best they may get sent to one of the large
towns, but the life is the same as in the village for the wife of the
'domine,' as the Dutch pastor is called. And if the domines move about in
fear and trembling because of the argus-eyes and often Midas-like ears of
the deacons, their wives must be still more discreet. One 'domine' has
been known to brave public opinion and ride a bicycle, but for a mother in
Israel to do the like would scandalize all good members of the Reformed
Church. The wives of the clergy, however, do good and useful work, and
probably are more real helpmeets to their husbands than women in any other
class of what may be called official life, but they take no sort of lead
in parochial or ecclesiastical matters. They do not direct the feminine
influences which do work in the parish, but rather take their place as one
of them. If, therefore, a woman marries a clergyman, she does so for love
of the man and his work's sake; there cannot be a tinge of ambition as to
the career of her husband, for there are no such things as comfortable
rectories and prospective deaneries or bishoprics, with their consequent
influence and power. Nothing but love of the man brings the 'domine' a
wife, and she knows that there will be inquisitorial eyes and not too kind
speeches about her behaviour from the 'faithful,' while the great people,
to their loss, will ignore her socially in much the same way as Queen
Elizabeth did the wives of the bishops in her day.
Passing to lighter subjects, Dutch girls are now breaking loose from the
stiffness and espionage in which their mothers were brought up, and this
is without doubt in a large measure due to the introduction of sport.
Tennis, hockey, golf, and more especially bicycling have conferred, by
the force of circumstances, a freedom which strength of argument,
entreaty, and tears failed to effect. Mothers and and chaperons do not,
as a rule, bicycle, and play tennis and golf; they cannot always go to
club meetings, even to yawn through the sets, and so the young people
play by themselves, and there are fast growing a lack of restraint and a
healthy freedom of intercourse which are gravely deprecated by
grand-mammas, winked at by mothers, but enjoyed to the full by daughters.
But quidnuncs prophesy, however, that people will not marry as early as
of yore, for young people get to know one another too well by
unrestricted intercourse, and the halo with which each sex surrounds the
other is dispelled. Be this as it may, no Dutch girl wishes to go back to
the old days when she could go nowhere alone.
Yet, however much men like to have women as companions in games, they are
not so willing to allow them much to say in matters which the masculine
mind considers its own province; for the fact is that most Dutchmen
consider women inferiors, and when there is a question of admittance into
literary or artistic circles and clubs, women's work has to be of an
undeniably high order. There are one or two ladies' clubs, but they do not
at present flourish, there being so few public platforms on which women
can meet, and so the 'social grade' determines women's relative position
by women's votes, and there is small chance of crossing the Rubicon then.
There is no doubt, however, that women in Holland are slowly winning their
way to greater independence of life. They are filling posts in public
offices; they are going to the universities; they are studying medicine
and qualifying as doctors; and no doubt they will in time compel men to
acknowledge their claims to live an independent life rather than a
dependent one. Besides, in Holland, as in other countries, the proportion
between the sexes is unequal, and so necessity will force open doors of
usefulness hitherto closed to women.
The Dutchwoman dresses expensively in all the towns, and generally well.
The toilettes are mostly of a German model, which suits the build of the
Dutchwoman better than the fashions of Paris. Rarely, however, do women
dress in that simple style in vogue in English morning dress, and a Dutch
town or seaside resort is filled in the mornings with gay toilettes more
fitted for the Row or the Boulevard. Even when bicycling the majority do
not dress very simply.
[Illustration: Dutch Fisher-Girls.]
[Illustration: A Bridal Pair Driving Home.]
Holland has always been noted for the variety and quaintness of its
provincial and even communal costumes, and these may all still be seen,
though they are dying out slowly. In some, and in fact many cases, a
modern bonnet is worn over a beautiful gold or silver headpiece, fringed
with lace, but ancient and modern do not in such cases harmonize. Of the
distinctly provincial costumes, that of Friesland is generally considered
the prettiest, but as illustrations are given of them all in a later
chapter, it must be left to the reader to decide the point for himself.
The fisherfolk more than any other retain their distinctive dress,
although even among them some of the children are habited according to
modern ideas, and certainly when the women are doomed to wear fourteen or
sixteen skirts, which have the effect of making them liable to pulmonary
complaints, it is surprising that modern fashions are not more generally
adopted. The plea for modernity in respect of Dutch national costumes is
considered rank heresy among artists, but the figures look better in a
picture and at a distance than in everyday life, added to which the custom
of cutting off or hiding the hair, which some of the head-dresses compel,
is not one to be encouraged; and it is a wonder that woman, who knows as a
rule her charms, has for so long consented to be deprived of one of the
chief ones. But in Holland, as in all countries where education is
spreading, cosmopolitanism in dress is increasing, and the picturesque
tends to give place to the convenient and in many cases the healthy.
Marriage with all its preliminaries is woman's triumph, and in Holland she
makes the most of it. The manner of seeking a wife and proposing is no
doubt the same in the Netherlands as in other European countries, with the
exception of France; but once accepted, the happy man must resign himself
to the accustomed routine. First of all he exchanges rings, so that a man
who is engaged or married betrays the fact as well as a woman by a plain
gold ring worn on the third finger. A girl, therefore, has a better chance
against those who were 'deceivers ever' than in a country where no such
outward and visible sign exists. The engagement is announced by cards
being sent out, counter-signed by the parents on both sides, and a day is
fixed for receiving the congratulations. The betrothed are then considered
almost married. Engagements are, of course, frequently broken off, but
such a thing as an action for 'breach of promise' is impossible, and would
be considered most mercenary and mean. As a rule, engagements are not
long, and as soon as the wedding-day is agreed upon, the preceding
fortnight is filled with parties of various kinds, while there is another
great reception just before the wedding day, in which, as before, the
bride and bridegroom have to stand for hours receiving the congratulations
of their friends. Every now and then they will snatch a chance to sit
down, but another arrival brings them again to their feet, weary but
smiling. On the wedding morning the happy couple drive to the Town Hall;
for all marriages must first be celebrated by the civil authorities, and
so they appear before the Burgomaster, who says something appropriate, and
they make their vows and sign the papers, after which, if they desire it,
there is a service at the church which is called a 'Benediction,' at which
they are blessed, and have to listen to a long sermon, at the close of
which a Bible is given them. This sermon is not the least of the trying
experiences, for frequently many of the older members of the party are
reduced to tears by allusions to former members of the two families, and
all sorts of subjects alien to the particular service are introduced. At a
recent wedding known to me, the guests had to listen to a long address in
which the Transvaal War and the Paris Exhibition were commented upon. Not
only so, but no fewer than three collections are taken at the service, so
that people who desire to enter into the holy estate of matrimony must not
lack fortitude when they have made up their minds to it.
But once married, a Dutch home is indeed 'Home, sweet home,' as is the
case more or less in all the northern countries, where the changeful
climate compels people to live a great deal within four walls. Dutch
fathers are kind, and the mothers are indulgent, and among the poorer
classes especially family affection is very great. Most beautiful and
touching instances might be abundantly quoted of family devotion, and a
society like that for the 'prevention of cruelty to children' would find
little to do in Holland.