Produced by Distributed Proofreaders [Illustration: The Delft Gate at Rotterdam.] Dutch Life in Town and Country By P. M. Hough, B.A. With Thirty-Two Illustrations Contents I. National Characteristics II. Court and Society III. The Professional Classes IV. The Position of Women V. The Workman of the Towns VI. The Canals and Their Population VII. A Dutch Village VIII. The Peasant at Home IX. Rural Customs X. Kermis and St. Nicholas XI. National Amusements XII. Music and the Theatre XIII. Schools and School Life XIV. The Universities XV. Art and Letters XVI. The Dutch as Readers XVII. Political Life and Thought XVIII. The Administration of Justice XIX. Religious Life and Thought XX. The Army and Navy XXI. Holland Over Sea Index List of Illustrations The Delft Gate at Rotterdam Types of Zeeland Women Zeeland Peasant--The Dark Type A Zeeland Woman--The Dark Type Dutch Fisher Girls A Bridal Pair Driving Home A Dutch Street Scene A Sea-Going Canal A Village in Dyke-Land A Canal in Dordrecht An Overyssel Farmhouse An Overyssel Farmhouse Approach to an Overyssel Farm Zeeland Costume Zeeland Costumes An Itinerant Linen-Weaver Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Linen-Press Type of an Overyssel Farmhouse A Farmhouse Interior, Showing the Door into the Stable Farmhouse Interior, the Open Fire on the Floor Palm Paschen--Begging for Eggs Rommel Pot A Hindeloopen Lady in National Costume Rural Costume--Cap with Ruche of Fur An Overyssel Peasant Woman Zeeland Children in State Kermis 'Hossen-Hossen--Hi-Ha!' St. Nicholas Going His Rounds on December 5th Skating to Church Parliament House at the Hague--View From the Great Lake Interior of Delftshaven Church (Where the Pilgrim Fathers Worshipped Before Leaving for New England) Utrect Cathedral Dutch Life in Town and Country Chapter I National Characteristics There is in human affairs a reason for everything we see, although not always reason in everything. It is the part of the historian to seek in the archives of a nation the reasons for the facts of common experience and observation, it is the part of the philosopher to moralize upon antecedent causes and present results. Neither of these positions is taken up by the author of this little book. He merely, as a rule, gives the picture of Dutch life now to be seen in the Netherlands, and in all things tries to be scrupulously fair to a people renowned for their kindness and courtesy to the stranger in their midst.