The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-04-12
IN DUTCH HOUSES.
THE WAR WHICH A PEASANT WO-
MAN MAKES AGAINST DUST.

Interesting Study of "Dutch Interior"
How Laundry Work Is Done in Hoi-
land - Servants-A Strange Custom.
Food and Cooking.
Had Lady Macbeth lived in Holland, that
damned spot' would have been out III five
minutes. Nothing, not even it, could stand
against a Dutch cleaning woman. She is
Irresistible Look how she is armed. Glance
at her weapons. Cloths and chamois, brooms
ard brushes, scrubbing brushes for the floors,
hair brushes for the wainscots, feather
brushes for the walls, tooth brushes for the
corner, geese wings for the stoves, hens
feathers for cleaning out the key holes small
sticks of wood for poking out any unhappy
particle of dnst which may have got into the
cracks of the floor, white paste for the win.
dows, red paste fer the hearth Stones emery
for the steel, and several other pastes and
polishes as the occasion may require These
are the implements Dutch peasant woman
uses to clean out her cottage home. Dust is
her natural enemy, she is born into the world
to fight it, it is her mission, and she does no
more than her mother and foremothers have
done before her. No wonder that such q
home training turns out an exceedingly high
class of domestic servant; and yet the Dutch
mistress grumbles. Such is life.
A DUTCH INTERIOR.
A Dutch Interior" from housekeeper's
as well as an artistic point of view, is most
| interesting study. 1t is one thing to know a
country well by travelling through it, stop
ping at the best hotels, visiting all points of
interest, taking careful notes by pen and
brush of all worth recording, but it is quite
another experience and fully as interesting
| to live among its people as one of themselves
to see how they live and think, manage and
eat; when they are conscious no locker on is
by, and that they need not adapt themselves
to any strangers custom or fancy. This
latter has been my good luck to experience,
and cam truthfully say that there are no
cleaner, more hospitable, kind hearted, do
nestle people in the world than the Dutch.
l mention cleaner first because with them
| it comes first. What would become Of a
Dutch woman in world where there is no
dust is a subject for conjecture, and though
look upon my visit to Holland as part of
the happiest time in my life, still my sincere
prayer is that my Dutch friends may never
visit me- could never live up to their idea
of cleanliness; the mental strain would be too
great
Washing is not done weekly as in America,
but allowed to accumulate for weeks, some
times even longer, an unhealthy custom; hut
in this as in many other respects the Dutch
can hardly be called clean nation, from a
hygienic point of view. With them it is duss,
dust, and again dust
Often the underservants such as scullery
maid, nurse maid, etc., do not sleep in the
house. This gives more space and room for
the family. These girls come in by the dsy,
sleeping at their own homes at night. All
servants in Holland dress extremely neatly,
generally in lilac print dresses, white muslin
caps, and large white aprons.
The same dress is worn in the street as in
the house. If the weather is cold, shawl is
thrown over the shoulders. They do good
deal of the household shopping. 1t must be
indeed delightful for the Dutch mistress to
have Betsey Jane all ready dressed to run her
little errands, instead of having to wait an
hour or more while Betsey Jane curls her
chang" and bedecks herself with cheap finery.
This good arrangement for maid as well as
mistress, for with the former it breaks the
monotony of the daily round, gives her a lit
tie blow of fresh air, besides the opportunity
of a slight Irritation with the butchers boy
| or the green grocer's assistant.