... always turns up again in the old haunts, bristling with interesting information, visiblyenjoying his busy, full life, and not without a certain vanity, arising from the feeling that his fellow-citizensare ... things, telling of repeated rubbings, scrubbings, andChapter IV 12scourings. In fact, cleanliness in Holland has become almost a disease, and scrubbing and banging go on frommorning until night ... women in Holland are slowly winning their way to greaterindependence of life. They are filling posts in public offices; they are going to the universities; they arestudying medicine and qualifying...