Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-28
Dutch Cleanliness.

Much has been said about Dutch clean
liness. The scrubbing and securing still go
on. though in the cities private owners no
longer have to clean the streets Formerly
Part Of the housemaids duty was to scrub
the pavement every morning to the middle
of the street. A man in Rotterdam told
US that the girls made themselves so con-
spicuous and such general nuisance that
the city fathers had taken action in the
matter and had provided other means for
keeping the streets in order.
In the smaller towns and country vii
lagos the women do all sorts of work IL
the husband is a merchant his wife surely
Is. and generally tends to the shop more
faithfully than he. In travelling through
the country We saw both men and " ,l..en
In the fields resting a moment from their
iabors to watch the passing train. SO that
1t would be quite proper to write 1 poeIa on
The Woman With the Hoe
What becomes of the housework and the
Family? In the first place, these peasants
hve very simply, and have little to cook.
No baking is done at home Every child
who is old enough to distinguish weeds
from vegetables helps in the field and sew
eral times l have seen tiny babies out IN
the middle of large field. sitting in a box
or crude sort of cab while the mother
was working hard few feet away. Often
In summer these peasants work some dis
lance from home. and the mother must rise
long before the sun in order to prepare the
breakfast of buttermilk porridge. put up
the noon luncheon of bread and coffee get
the children dressed, and be in the field at
sunrise. On her return in the evening she
must hurry to cook the potato soup for
supper. feed the sleepy youngsters and send
them off TO bed while the master of the
house stretches his tired limbs out on the
grassy dixie. There, under vigorous pufts
from his long pipe. he religiously performs
his duty as citizen. discussing with his
neighbors the veal and woe Of the village.
mistress
work always at home. We made the ac-
quatntance of one of them. who, with her
husband and two daughters. lived on the
boat. They invited US in to drink tea
with them. We entered the tiny little
cabin. where there literally was no stand
ing room. for only by sitting down did
the low ceiling permit us to hold up our
leads The boat is loaded now. they ex-
planned, and that is why we are so crowd
ed There was room, however. for some
geraniums and phlox blooming in the win
dow. the only window the little room con-
tanned Two opposite sides had neatly cur
tanned beds built into the walls How
long do you stay at one landingy we ven
tured to ask. 1T takes us several weeks
to get loaded up We all help at that; then
we sell where we can Sometimes 1t takes
week or so to reach our destination
Sometimes we can unload at one landing.
but often We stop at different places
The Washing Boats.
'In Germany the public washing boats
on the Rhine attracted our attention. They
seemed to be in constant use. and from
the babbiing Of tongues we understood bet
ter the expression, 'gossipy as a washer
woman Every town has its public
grounds for drying clothes. and there again
many women find employment.
"In the Rhine provinces the women carry
their wares to market in immense baskets
on their heads. 1t is a unique sight
round pad of stuffed wool about the size of
an ordinary plate Is placed on the head
and the basket set on top of that. Return
ing from market, several women may be
seen with five or six empty baskets, one
within the other. carried on their heads.
Veritable walking tOwersi What keeps
them poised as they turn at sudden noise
behind them or greet a neighbor in pass
ing?"