(door een correspondent van de Boston Journal)

LIFE AMONG THE HOLLANDERS.

Rijsood [Rijsoord], Aug. 1. — One of the features of
this village which has been a puzzled to me is
the absence of its dry-goods shops. The
dress of the women is simple, but always
clean and neat and sometimes rendered
picturesque by the local bead-dress. In
this part of Holland and in other places near
Dordrecht and Rotterdam women, wear a
black woolen dress with short skirt, which
is almost covered with a long blue apron. A
white cap, assumed when the girl has
reached maidenhood, is often-very rich with
its insertion of hand-made lace and very
elegant on festive occasions with its gold
ornaments an pins. A white handkerchief,
sometimes assumed, is always becoming.
Although the materials of the costume are
not elaborate, they cerfcainly need occasional
renewal, and for some time I wondered, at
the apparent need of dry goods stores.
An explanation was given not long ago, in the
visit of the "kaupmann," or merchant, who
travels about from place to place with his
samples, and receives orders for all materials
and trimmings needed in clothing for the
various members of the household.

The villagers themselves, humble, unas-
piring, honest and industrious, well deserve
their place among the best of the peasantry
of Europe. Hard work in the fields is the
lot of both men and women. From 4 o'clock
in the morning, after a breakfast of bread
and coffee, until dark, with the intermission
of allotted time for luncheon of bread and
cheese and dinner of bread and potatoes, the
villagers work in the flax and wheat fields.
It is the custom here, to rent the proceeds to a pit-
tance. I am told that six gulders, or 2 40
dollars a week, is the average wage of the
farmers. Tho taxes are almost prohibitory.
A farmer pays 30 cents a head a week for
the pasturage of sheep. He is taxed for
keeping a horse, if he over rises to that state
ot affluence, and in many other ways he
feels the burden of the support of the royal
ty. In spite of the discouragement which
life holds out to them, the working people of
Holland are distinguished for their kindness
and hospitality and for their close feeling of
interest in each other. Without being gay,
they are most soxiable and in winter, when
they have little occupation except that of
beating the flax, they are extremely fond of
paying friendly visits to one anothor and of
filling the hours with talk.

All travellers in Holland have noticed the
scrubbing capacity of tbe Dutch house
keepers. With canals and sloots at their
doors, the women have plenty of material
for washing. Cleaning seems to be almost
an infection in the village. Never again
shall I see so much out-of-door polishing
and suoh brimful canals close at hand. The
villagers go to ohurch twice on Sabbath,
and the whole place has a religious aspect
that ennobles its poverty and meanners and
gives it a right among the world's most
worthy places. I like to think of Rijsoord
in its Sunday quiet. Nowhere in Holland
is the landscape more beautiful. A river
winds through green, sedgy banks and rows
of willows, while a canal and numerous
household shoots add to the waterscupe.
The streets are irregular in their windings by the
river, and are lined with low, ono story
brick houses, the red-tiled roofs of which
add color to the scene. The small windows
are provided with green wooden shutters,
and some have white lace curtains and
heart-shapedd screens in the front panes.
There is a delightful glimpse of vegetable
gardens and a picturesque view of a
bridge. The fences in front of the houses
are covered with ivy and other green
growing things, and far away stretch the
flat, green meadows of Holland, to which
the atmosphere imparts the gray quality so
dear to artists. — Corr. Boston Journal.