Page:Things Seen In Holland (1912).djvu/95

 very rare to see a woman, even of the lowest class, any the worse for liquor. The wife or the fiancée will during that boisterously festive period, when the men drink deep, watch with eager solicitude over her “man,” and see him safely to his home; but she will resent the interference of the brass-helmeted gerechtsdienaar, and will not suffer her ward to be arrested, for she is an expert at steering him home, tack as he may across the street, and her assertion that she can manage him is no mere boast. The common people put sugar in their drinks, whether gin, beer, or brandy.

To revert once more to the vulgar subject of eating. As already stated, the Dutch look upon a meal as something serious, and food is absorbed by them in large quantities. There is no stinting in either restaurants or hotels, and in the former a