CROCUS AND EARLY SPRING FLOWERS 29 



such a reason would not operate ; and, given the 

 Dutch facilities, one can imagine that as many 

 good sportsmen would assemble to watch inter- 

 county contests on the frozen or liquid water 

 (according to season) as now enthusiastically look 

 on at cricket or football matches. Certainly there 

 are very marked differences between the nations. 



They show among the women not less than 

 the men. The pride, at least of the more old- 

 fashioned Dutch housewife, is her stove, the 

 closed stoves, which heat the room very well 

 and very cleanly, give little assistance to ventila- 

 tion, and offer none of the cheer and sympathy 

 of the open fire. I have only met or heard of 

 one English housewife who was proud of a 

 shining stove, and she lived in the Potteries, 

 and was the wife of a cheerful drunkard. In 

 summer the majority of the stoves in Dutch 

 houses are taken down and put away one 

 would like to know where. They must require 

 room to store, and present an interesting sight, 

 wrapped in winding - sheets of greased paper, 

 keeping their summer Sabbath, like the dead 

 kings waiting the summons of Charlemagne's 

 sword. But the finest and most handsome of 

 stoves are not taken down, they remain in 



