The San Francisco call., 1904-07-03

the house to start q local museum
anywhere outside of Holland.
On high days and holidays, OF which
In Holland there are plenty, the aver
age Dutch vrouw would be well worth
running away with. The Dutch peas
ant girl has no need OF an illustrated
journal once q week TO tell her what
the fashion is; she has it in the por-
trait OF her mother, or of her grand
mother, hanging over the glittering
chimney piece. When the Dutch woman
builds dress she builds 1t to last; il
deScends from mother to daughter, but
II is made OF sound material in the
beginning A lady friend Of mine
thought the Dutch costume would serve
well for fancy dress ball, so set about
buying one. But she abandoned the no.
tion on learning what 1t would cost her.
ADutch girl in her Sunday clothes must
be worth fifty pounds before you come
10 ornaments. In certain provinces she
wears a close fitting helmet, made.
either Of solid silver or of solid gold
The Dutch gallant, before making him
self known, walks on tiptoe a little
while behind the loved one and looks
at himself in her headdress just to
make sure that his hat is on straight
and his front curl just where it ought
10 be. In most other European eoun-
tries national costume is dying out. The
slop shop is year by year extending its
hideous trade. But the country of Ru-
bens and Rembrandt of Teniers and
Gerard Dow, remains still true 10 art.
The picture postcard does not exagger-
ate. The men in those wondrous baggy
knickerbockers, from the pockets Of
which you sometimes see a. couple Of
chickens heads protruding: in gaUdy
mighty sabots, smoking their great
pipes; the women in their petticoats Of
many hues, in gorgeously embroidered
vest, in ehemisette Of dazzling white,
crowned with halo Of many frills, G it
tering in gold and silver-are not the
creatures of an artists fancy. You
meet them in their thousands on holi-
day afternoons, walking gravely arm
in arm, flirting with sober Dutch sto-
lidity.
On colder davs the women wear
bright colored caDes made OF fine spun
silk; from underneath the ample folds
of which you sometimes hear a little
cry-and sometimes a little hooded
head peeps out, regards with prete-
natural thoughtfulness the toylike
world without. then dives back into
shelter. As for the children-women in
miniature. the single difference in dress
being the gay pinafore-you can only
say of them that they look like Dutch
dolls. But such plump, contented,
cheerful little dolls You remember
the hollow-eyed. pale-faced dolls you
see swarming in the great big and
therefore should-be happy countries,
and wish that more land surface were
of less Importance to our statesmen
and our able editors, and the happiness
and well-being OF the mere human
items worth a little more of their
thought The Dutch peasant lives sur
rounded by canals and reaches his cot
tage across a drawbridge. 1 suppose il
is in the blood of the Dutch child not
TO tumble into the canal, and the Dutch
mother never appears to anticipate
such possibility. One can imagine the
average English mother trying to bring
up a family in a house surrounded by
canals. She would never have a mo-
ment's peace until the children were in
bed. But then the mere sight of ca
nal 10 the English child suggests the
delights of a sudden and unexpected
bath. I put il to a Dutchman once,
Did the Dutch child by any chance
ever fall into canal?" Yes" he re-
piled, eases had been known" Don't
you DO anything for it?" I inquired.
"Oh, yes" he answered, I'VE haul them
out again. But what 1 mean is"
explained. don't you do anything to
prevent their falling into save them
from falling in again?" YES" he an
swered, I'VE spank en-" There is al
ways a wind in Holland. It comes
from over the sea. There is nothing 10
stay it's progress. It leaps the low
dykes and sweeps with a shrek across
the sad soft dunes. and thinks ii is go
ing 10 have a good time and play havoc
in the land. But the Dutchman laughs
behind his great pipe as it comes to
him shouting and roaring. Welcome,
my hearty, welcome he chuckles,
bigger you are the better like you"
And when IL is once in the land, be-
hind the long, straight dykes. behind