THE CITY OF JACQUELINE 



49 



The Walcheren farmer is comfortably 

 well-to-do, even rich ; he can easily afford 

 to let his wife have the butter money and 

 is quite sure she will use it wisely. There 

 is always ample for the children to have 

 a sweetie or toy, for fritters and waffles, 

 and all the shows at kermis. 



If you have not seen them arrive, the 

 descent from the high wagon, the un- 

 pinning of skirts, the shaking and settling 

 of ruffled plumage, it is fun to see them 

 depart, when the scene repeats itself in 

 reverse order. The tiny baby pats and 

 smooths and settles its many wide skirts, 

 adjusts its beads, and feels its gold spirals, 

 to be quite sure all are as they ought to 

 be, with as much care as its mother. 



It must be confessed that this anxiety 

 of dress is much more developed in baby 

 girls than boys. Once or twice I have 

 met a small man manifestly proud of his 

 many buttons or his new cap, but he has 

 no concern or care for them except that 

 his cap shall be tilted at just father's 

 angle over one eye. Perhaps it is only 

 another example of masculine conceit, 

 this seeming indifference. The little boer 

 (country boy) may think that he cannot 

 fail to look well under any circumstances, 

 while his sister simply must know that 

 her cap is straight, her skirt even and 

 unwrinkled, to be happy. 



Somehow in Zeeland one is always 

 coming back to Middelburg. It sits serene 

 in the center of its green island and 

 draws you back like a loadstone when- 

 ever you stray beyond the sound of its 

 merry bells. 



At Ter Goes the butter market is also 

 ruled by the ladies. It also is held in an 

 enclosure and its gate opens upon the 

 market-place. Without it the men are 

 grouped in numbers, but within the dames 

 reign supreme. There is no great linden 

 to cast picturesque shadows nor to filter 

 the sunshine which touches a gold pen- 

 dant or coral bead now and then as with 

 living fire. There is not the same cool, 

 green shadow to make yellower the golden 

 butter or whiter the pearly eggs ; but the 

 matrons and maids who buy and sell 

 there are far more startling to stranger 

 eyes than the Walcheren beauties. 



Over their bodices gay kerchiefs are 

 folded in prescribed and curious lines, 

 and the caps which cover their shapely 



heads are of lace plaited into widespread- 

 ing wings. There is always a small close 

 cap which fits the heads snugly, disclosing 

 the hair only at the forehead, where it 

 rolls back in a tiny smooth puff. 



ti-ie: styi,i; of cap de;note;s the; religion 



From beneath this cap jut shiny gold 

 plates like window mirrors, secured firm- 

 ly in place by huge gold pins. Above 

 this is worn the lace cap, coming down 

 smooth and straight to end squarely 

 across the shoulders for a Catholic 

 woman, gathered or plaited to flare widely 

 and coquettishly for the woman whose 

 faith is Calvinistic. 



Their fathers or husbands also mark 

 belief by head-dress. The Protestant 

 wears his beaver hat with brim rolled up 

 the entire round ; the Catholic turns his 

 down in front to form a visor. 



The women's kerchiefs also once de- 

 noted their church b}' their color, but 

 that, I believe, is no longer true. The 

 men do not now wear knickerbockers, 

 but the long, baggy trousers are still held 

 at the waistband with four huge silver 

 plates, as of old, and the high vest, the 

 short-cut jacket, boast their rows of sil- 

 ver filagree buttons ; a pair of gold ones 

 clasp the shirt at the throat. 



As in Walcheren, the women's sleeves 

 end almost before they begin in the tight- 

 est of black velvet bands, which make 

 the plump, sunburned arms appear yet 

 redder and fatter; but I seem to have 

 noticed that the elderly ladies go in for 

 a bit more of comfort, less of fashion. 

 One could slip a finger easily beneath 

 their velvet bands, although it would not 

 be wise to try it. 



A JOLLY CROWD 



If there is nothing much gayer, more 

 unreal, theatrical in effect than these 

 oddly-capped girls scurrying about the 

 market-place, with their small bags and 

 baskets, laughing, giggling (they do gig- 

 gle in Dutch as well as English ; their 

 verb is gigglelen, but they pronounce it 

 "hihhelen," with all h's aspirated as I 

 cannot), shopping for picture postal 

 cards, tripping over the twine which the 

 rope-seller has led quite across the square 

 in his endeavors to prove how much is in 

 a ball, scolding, jesting, bargaining with 



