Page:Things Seen In Holland (1912).djvu/83

 does the merchant or the lawyer have his office in his residence, and so it is hard to say when he leaves off the work which he has begun at an early hour. The Dutchman is systematic and methodical in the ways of his life, and day after day, previous to joining his family at the board, he will proceed to his favourite café or societeit (club), and prepare for the enjoyment of his meal with the absorption of some favourite “appetizer”; but in Holland, as with ourselves, the habit of “taking something before dinner” is dying out, and so is that of wine-drinking when ladies pay an afternoon call. In fact, the afternoon tea has swept all before it, and Dutch ladies now very seldom partake of advocaat, a kind of egg-nog once greatly in vogue at feminine gatherings.

At all times, and especially in the country, the Dutchman is from his early