Griffis, William Elliot, The story of New Netherland

(Boston and New York :  Houghton Mifflin Company,  1909.)

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CHAPTER XVII

SOCIAL  LIFE  IN NEW NETHERLAND

In no country of Europe was human existence
more intensely social than the Netherlands, where
the climate and soil compelled people to live much
indoors. A thousand contrivances, designed to
make sedentary life enjoyable, were in use, while
art bloomed as in a garden. The Dutchman's fire¬
side was famous for comforts unknown in sun¬
nier lands, and his house, a true home, was a
museum of delights. The tell-tale etymology of
most of our homely words, descriptive of textiles,
costumes, house furnishings and equipment, betray
their Dutch origin. Our underclothing, beds, fur¬
niture, kitchen belongings, and parlor necessities,
from the " stovey," to warm our feet, to the easel,
or little donkey, to hold our pictures, recall in
their names the country of their origin.

Man makes a camp, but woman the home. In
Holland the whole system of school training, from
Finsterwolde to Flushing and from Scheveningen
to Winterswijk, was built on the idea of the equal
but not identical education for both sexes. Mutual
helpfulness between man and woman was expected
on the farm and in the shop. The girls went to the
public schools along with the boys, and all alike
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