The Peasant at Home
To describe an 'average' Dutch peasant would be to say very little of him.
There is far too much difference in this class of people all over the
Netherlands to allow of any generalization. In Zeeland we meet two
distinct types; one very much akin to the Spanish race, having a
Spaniard's dark hair, dark eyes, and sallow complexion, and often very
good-looking. The other type is entirely different, fair-haired,
light-eyed, and of no particular beauty. In Limburg, the most southern
province of the Netherlands, one finds a mixture of the German, Flemish,
and Dutch types, and the language there is a dialect formed from all those
three tongues, while in the most northern province, Groningen, the people
speak a dialect resembling that spoken in Overyssel and Gelderland, and
the Frisians, their neighbours, would feel themselves quite strangers in
the last named provinces, and would not even be able to make themselves
understood when speaking in their usual language. In the Betuwe the
dialect spoken differs from that in the Veluwe, but no distinct line can
be drawn to determine where one dialect begins and the other ends.
In their mode of dressing, too, there is a great difference between the
people of one province and of another, and in Zeeland every island has
its own special costume. Just as they differ in dress, so they also differ
in appearance and education, wealth, and civilization.
A North Holland farmer is well-to-do and independent. For centuries he has
battled and disputed every inch of his land with the sea, and it has been
pointed out by observant people that the effects of the strife are still
marked in his harsh and rugged features and independent ways. It is well
known that his cattle are the best in all the country, for the pastures,
by reason of the damp polder ground, are very rich, and yield year out
year in an abundant crop of grass and hay, the cows he keeps for milking
purposes giving from 20 to 30 litres, or from 45 to 70 pints, of milk a
day, which is a very high yield.
[Illustration: Zeeland Costume.]
The 'Vrye Fries'--for the Frisian congratulates himself on never having
been conquered, but always having in days of war and tribal feud made his
own terms more or less with an adversary--stands higher in culture and
intellect, and is also more enterprising, than the great majority of the
Dutch peasants. He welcomes many inventions, and is willing to risk
something in trying them, and so one can see many kinds of machinery in
use on the Frisian farms. He also works with the most modern and approved
artificial manures.
[Illustration: Zeeland Costumes.]
The Groningen and Overyssel boer[Footnote: Peasant and farmer as a rule
are convertible terms. A farmer is a peasant, although a peasant is not
always the owner of a farm. In point of education the farmer himself does
not differ from the average labourer on his farm, and both alike are
classed as 'boeren.'] follows his example unless the farms are so small as
to make large machinery impracticable, when he goes along the path marked
out by his great-grandfather, and finds safety, if not novelty, in so
doing. All over the north of Holland the cows are good, and there is milk,
butter, and cheese in abundance at the markets, especially the two
last-named articles, as nearly all the milk is sent to the
'Zuivelfabrieken,' as butter and cheese factories are called.
Travelling from north to south, and so reaching the Wilhelminapolder in
Zeeland, we come across the steam-plough, but that is the only place in
the Netherlands where it is in use. The further south one goes--Zeeland
excepted--the lower becomes the standard of life, and the peasants seem to
care for little else than their fields and cattle, while the people of
Noord Brabant are the poorest and dirtiest of them all. The produce of the
soil varies according to the ground cultivated. In Utrecht and Brabant
many thousand acres are devoted to tobacco, while Overyssel and
Gelderland, as a rule, grow rye, oats, buckwheat, and flax. In Drenthe the
greater part of the province yields peat, and North and South Holland are
famous all over the world for their rich pastures. Cabbages and
cauliflowers are also extensively cultivated for exportation, and in
Friesland they have begun to cultivate them also. From Wateringen to the
Hoek van Holland one sees smiling orchards, while from Leyden to Haarlem
blossom the world-famed bulb fields, too well known to need special
description.
The farm-work is done in the spring and summer. The women invariably help
with the lighter work of weeding in the fields, while in harvest-time
they work as hard as the men, and very picturesque they look in their
broad black hats and white linen skirts. But when the harvest is gathered
in, and the pigs have been converted into hams and sausages, the man's
chief labour is over, although the manuring of the land and the threshing
of the corn have to be attended to. Still, he has his evenings wherein to
sit by the fireside and smoke, presumably gathering energies the while
for the coming spring. A woman's work, however, is never ended, for
while the man smokes she spins the flax grown on her own ground and the
wool from the sheep of the farm. In some parts of Overyssel it is still
the custom for the women to meet together at some neighbouring friend's
house to spin, and during these sociable evenings they partake of the
'spinning-meal,' which consists of currant bread and coffee, and in turn
sing and tell stories.
A weaver always visits every house once a year with his own loom to assist
at these gatherings, and when the linen is woven it is rolled up and tied
with coloured ribbons, decorated with artificial flowers, and kept in the
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.]
[Illustration: Farmhouse Interior, showing the Linen-Press.]
The farmhouses in most parts of the country are neat and more or less of a
pattern, although they differ in minor details. Outside their appearance
is very quaint and picturesque, and the roofs are either thatched or
tiled. In Groningen they now hardly resemble farms. They are, indeed,
little country seats, and the interior is decidedly modern. Some of the
very poorest-looking houses are to be found in Overyssel and Drenthe.
These are built of clay, and stand halfway in the ground. The roofs are
covered with sods taken from the 'Drentsche Veengronden.' Some of these
'Plaggewoningen,' as they are called, are not more than twelve feet square
and eight feet high. The ceiling of the room inside the dwelling is only
four or five feet high, and above this the stores of hay and corn are
kept. A hole in the roof serves as chimney, and in the floor--which is
nothing but hard clay--a hole is dug to serve as fireplace. On the larger
farms in Overyssel the main building is generally divided into two parts.
The back part is for the cattle, which stand in rows on either side, with
a large open space in the centre, called the 'deel,' where the carts are
kept. A large arched double door leads into it, while the thatched roof
comes down low on either side. Leading from the 'deel,' or stable, into
the living-room is a small door, with a window to enable the inhabitants
to see what is going on among their friends of the fields. Against the
wall which forms the partition between the stable and living-room is the
fireplace. You will sometimes find an open fire on the floor, though in
the more modern houses stoves are used. The chimney-piece is in the shape
of a large overhanging hood with a flounce of light print 'Schoorsteenval'
round it, and a row of plates on a shelf above serves for ornament. The
much-prized linen-press, which has already been mentioned, is usually
placed at right-angles to the outer door, so as to form a kind of passage.
In some farmhouses there is no partition at all between the stable and
living-room, but the cattle are kept at the back, and the people live at
the other end, near the window. This is called a 'loshuis,' or open house,
and very picturesque it is to look at. The smell of the cows is considered
to be extremely healthy, and consumptive patients have been completely
cured (so it is popularly believed) by sleeping in the cowsheds. Besides
being healthy, this primitive system is also cheap, for the cows give out
so much warmth that it is almost unnecessary to have fires except for
cooking purposes. Some of these open houses have no chimneys, the smoke
finding its way out between the tiles of the roof or through the door.
There is a hayloft above the part occupied by the cattle, while over the
heads of the family hams, bacon, and sausages of every description hang
from the rafters. Smoke is very useful in curing these stores, and this
may account for the absence of a chimney.
In Brabant, however, where there are chimneys, the farmer hangs his stores
in them, so that when looking up through the wide opening to the sky
beyond numerous tiers of dangling sausages meet one's admiring gaze. The
living-room is a living-room in every sense of the word, for the family
work, eat, and sleep there. Sometimes a larger farm has a wing attached to
it containing bedrooms, but this is not general, and even so most of the
family sleep in the living-room. The beds are placed round the room. They
are, in fact, cupboards, and by day are fixed in the wall. Green curtains
are hung before the beds, and are always drawn at night, completely
concealing the beds from view. Some have doors like ordinary cupboards,
but this is more general in North Holland. In Hindeloopen (Friesland) one
or two beds in the living-room are kept as 'pronk-bedden' (show beds).
They are decked out with the finest linen the farmers' wives possess, the
sheets gorgeous with long laces, and the pillow-slips beautifully
embroidered. These beds are never slept in, and the curtains are kept open
all day long, so that any one who enters the room can at once admire their
beauty. Some of the more wealthy have a 'best bedroom,' which they keep
carefully locked. They dust it every day, and clean it out once a week,
but never use it. In South Holland it is more customary to have a
'pronk-kamer' ('show-room'), which is not a bedroom, but a kind of
parlour. This room is never entered by the inhabitants of the house except
at a birth or a death, and in the latter case they put the corpse there.
In Hindeloopen the dead are put in the church to await burial, and there
they rest on biers specially made for the occasion. A different bier is
used to represent the trade or profession or sex of the dead person. These
biers are always most elaborately painted (as, indeed, are all things in
Hindeloopen), with scenes out of the life of a doctor, a clergyman, a
tradesman, or a peasant.
[Illustration: Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse.]
The costume worn by the peasantry is always quaint, and this is
especially so in Hindeloopen. The waistband of a peasant woman takes
alone an hour and a half to arrange. It consists of a very long, thin,
black band, which is wound round and round the waist till it forms one
broad sash. The dress itself includes a black skirt and a check bodice, a
white apron, and a dark necktie; from the waistband hangs at the
right-hand side a long silver chain, to which are attached a silver
pincushion, a pair of scissors, and a needle-case; then on the left-hand
side hangs a reticule with silver clasps; and a long mantle, falling
loose from the shoulders to the hem of the skirt, is worn over all
out-of-doors. This latter is of some light-coloured material, with a
pattern of red flowers and green leaves. On the head three caps are worn,
one over the other, and for outdoor wear a large, tall bonnet is donned
by way of completing the costume.
[Illustration: A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable.]
All the Frisian costumes are beautiful. Many ladies of that province still
wear the national dress, and a very becoming one it is.
In Overyssel the women all over the province dress alike and in the same
way their ancestors did. In the house the dress is an ordinary full
petticoat of some cotton stuff, generally blue, and a tight-fitting and
perfectly plain bodice with short sleeves, a red handkerchief folded
across the chest, and a close-fitting white cap, with a little flounce
round the neck. When they go to market with their milk and eggs they are
very smart.[Footnote: Butter used to be one of the wares they took to
market, but now so many butter-factories have arisen, and also so much is
imported from Australia, that it is hardly worth their while to make it.]
They then wear a fine black merino skirt, made very full, and the
inevitable petticoats, which make the skirt stand out like a crinoline. On
Sundays they wear the same costume as on market-days, and in winter they
are to be seen with large Indian shawls worn in a point down the back in
the old-fashioned way. When they go to communion, as they do four times a
year, the shawls are of black silk with long black fringes. The hair is
completely hidden by a close-fitting black cap, and some women cut off
their hair so as to give the head a perfectly round shape. Over the black
cap is worn a white one of real lace, called a 'knipmuts,' the pattern of
which shows to advantage over the black ground. A deep flounce of gauffred
real lace goes round the neck, while round the face there is a ruche or
frill, also very finely gauffred. A broad white brocaded ribbon is laid
twice round the cap, and fastened under the chin. Long gold earrings are
fastened to the cap on either side of the face, and the ears themselves
are hidden. The style of gauffering is still the same as is seen in the
muslin caps of so many Dutch pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, especially in those of Frans Hals. When in mourning, the women
wear a plain linen cap without any lace, and the men a black bow in their
caps. It is quite a work of art to make up a peasant woman's head-dress,
and several cap-makers are kept busy at it all day long.
The clothes the men wear are not so elaborate. They used to be short
knickerbockers with silver clasps, but these have entirely gone out of
fashion, and they have been replaced by ordinary clothes of cloth or
corduroy. Both sexes wear wooden shoes, which the men often make
themselves. In the far-famed little island of Marken, the men are very
clever at this work, and they carve them beautifully. In some lonely
hamlets the unmarried women wear black caps with a thick ruche of ostrich
feathers or black fur round the face. The jewellery consists of garnet
necklaces closed round the neck and fastened by golden clasps. The garnets
are always very large, and this fashion is general ail over the
Netherlands. In Stompwyk, a little village between The Hague and Leyden, a
peasant family possesses garnets as large as a swallow's egg.
If the dress of the boers is solid, quaint, and national, the daily food
of the class is in keeping with their conservative temper and traditional
gastronomic ability. It is of the plainest character, but often consists
of the strangest mixtures. When a pig is killed, and the different parts
for hams, sides of bacon, etc., have been stored, and the sausages
made--especially after they have boiled the black-puddings, or
'Bloedworst,' which is made of the blood of the pigs--a thick fatty
substance remains in the pot. This they thicken with buckwheat meal till
it forms a porridge, and then they eat it with treacle. The name of this
dish is 'Balkenbry.' A portion of this, together with some of the
'slacht,' i.e. the flesh of the pig, is sent as a present to the
clergyman of the village, and it is to be hoped he enjoys it.
Another favourite dish, especially in Overyssel and Gelderland, is
'Kruidmoes.' This is a mixture of buttermilk boiled with buckwheat meal,
vegetables, celery, and sweet herbs, such as thyme, parsley, and chervil,
and, to crown all, a huge piece of smoked bacon, and it is served steaming
hot. The poor there eat a great deal of rice and flour boiled with
buttermilk, which, besides being very nutritious, is 'matchless for the
complexion,' like many of the advertised soaps. The very poor have what is
called a 'Vetpot.' This they keep in the cellar, and in it they put every
particle of fat that remains over from their meals. Small scraps of bacon
are melted down and added to it, for this fat must last them the whole
winter through as an addition to their potatoes. Indeed, the 'Vetpot'
plays as great a part in a poor man's house as the 'stock-pot' does in an
English kitchen.
[Illustration: Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor.]
The meals are cooked in a large iron pot, which hangs from a hook over the
open hearth. The fuel consists of huge logs of wood and heather sods,
which are also used for covering the roofs of the 'Plaggewoning.' Black or
rye bread takes the place of white, and is generally home-made. In Brabant
the women bake what is called 'Boeren mik.' This is a delicious long brown
loaf, and there are always a few raisins mixed with the dough to keep it
from getting stale. Those who have no ovens of their own put the dough in
a large long baking-tin and send it to the baker. One of the children, on
his way back from school, fetches it and carries it home _under his arm_.
You may often see farmers' children walking about in their wooden shoes
with two or more loaves under their arms. Both wooden shoes and loaves are
used in a dispute between comrades, and the loaf-carrier generally gains
the day. The crusts are very hard and difficult to cut, but, inside, the
bread is soft and palatable.
In Brabant the peasants--small of stature, black-haired, brown-eyed, more
of the Flemish than the Dutch type--are as a rule Roman Catholics, and on
Shrove Tuesday evening 'Vastenavond,' 'Fast evening' (the night before
Lent), they bake and eat 'Worstebrood.' On the outside this bread looks
like an ordinary white loaf, but on cutting it open you find it to contain
a spicy sausage-meat mixture. All the people in this part of the country
observe the Carnival, with its accustomed licence.
Times for farming are bad in the Netherlands as elsewhere. The rents are
high and wages low, and the consequence is that many peasants sell their
farms, which have for a long time been in their families, and rent them
again from the purchasers. The relations between landlord and tenants are
in some respects still feudalistic, and hence very old-fashioned. On some
estates the landlord has still the right of exacting personal service from
his tenants, and can call upon them to come and plough his field with
their horses, or help with the harvesting, for which service they are paid
one 'gulden,' or 1s. 8d. a day, which, of course, is not the full value of
their labour. The tenants likewise ask their landlord's consent to their
marriages, and it is refused if the man or woman is not considered
suitable or respectable.
A farmer who keeps two or three cows pays a rent of £8 a year for his
farm, which only yields enough to keep him and his family, not in a high
standard of living either. The rent is generally calculated at the rate of
three per cent. of the value. He pays his farm-labourers 80 cents, or 1s.
4d., for a day's work. In former days, however, money was never given, and
the wages of a farm-servant then were a suit of clothes, a pair of boots,
and some linen, while the women received an apron, some linen, and a few
petticoats once a year. Now they get in addition to this £12 a year. In
Gramsbergen (Overyssel) a whole family, consisting of a mother, her
daughter, and her two grown-up sons, earned no more than four or five
guilders (8s. or 10s.) between them, but then they lived rent free. It is
not wonderful, therefore, that farm-labourers are scarce, and that many a
young man, unable to earn enough to keep body and soul together decently,
seeks work in the factories here or in Belgium,[Footnote: According to a
recent return, 56,506 Netherlands workmen are employed in Belgium.] while
those who do not wish to give up agricultural pursuits migrate to Germany,
where the demand for 'hands' is greater and the wages consequently higher.
In former days strangers came to this country to earn money. Now the
tables are turned, and the fact that Holland is situated between two
countries whose thriving industries demand a greater number of workers
every year will yet bring serious trouble and loss to Dutch agriculture.
[Footnote: Just now great results are expected from the 'allotment
system,' of which a trial has been made in Friesland on the extensive
possessions of Mr. Jansen, of Amsterdam.]