This was the case in most of the burghers' houses. These show-rooms were used only on some special occasion; otherwise they were never entered except for cleaning. This took place weekly and oftener, with special cleaning in the spring and autumn. Rooms in constant use were daily stripped and cleaned, and the housewife barely allowed herself time to eat. Some enthusiastic housekeepers - although wealthy - would not allow the servants to clean their best rooms, but wielded "the scrubbing-brush, rubbing-towel and floor-cloth." There are examples of houses where from thirty to forty pails of water were used every day, and where the servants did nothing but rub and scrub and scour from morning till night. Many of the houses were exceedingly damp in consequence, and the inmates constantly ill. Notwithstanding the ridicule the Dutch housewife suffered in books and on the stage, her mania for cleaning was so great that she cared not at all if the house was termed "hell" and the cleaners "she-devils."

In some families home was made still more uncomfortable on account of the little amount of cooking done. Certain dishes were prepared once a week and then "warmed up," so that the stove would not be soiled. In North Holland a month would sometimes elapse between the making of fires for cooking in the fireplace. All the cooking was done by means of a little boiling water in the fire-pot.

The show-room, or "holy of holies," as the Dutch Woman was pleased to call it, was furnished according to the means or class of the owner. Among the higher classes a party was often given in it. In such homes the floor was covered with expensive Turkish rugs, and the walls hung with tapestries, silk damask or gold leather. These were further adorned with Venetian mirrors and paintings worth their weight in gold. The chairs were of rare exotic or foreign woods supplied with embroidered cushions, or seats of Utrecht velvet, and the other fur- niture consisted of beautifully painted or inlaid or mosaic tables, beautifully carved cupboards, and rare cabinets inlaid with silver, ivory or tortoiseshell, and filled with the finest egg-shell porcelain. Porcelains and curios adorned the high carved chimney.

In older aristocratic homes the "show-room" was less lavishly furnished, but none the less the pride of the mistress. The floor was covered with mats, the walls with painted linen, or handsome paintings; but in rare porcelain it was the equal of any alderman's or mayor's wife.

As time wore on, the walnut cabinet supplanted the carved or oak cupboard, the vitrine took the place of the china-cabinet and the console and glass appeared between the windows, and finally we arrive at the period when the small bookcase with glass or mirror doors appears and chairs covered with figured rep.

The kitchen usually contained a bedstead with feather bed, pillows and curtains, a looking-glass in a black frame, a cupboard, chairs, a table, andirons, innumerable brooms and brushes, flint and steel for striking a light, shovels, tongs, gridirons, dripping-pans, whetting-boards for knives, tubs, butter firkins (earthenware, pewter, brass and tin), knives, forks, spoons, stills, churns, hanging boards, can-boards, pots, pails, skimmers, funnels, salt-boxes, candle-boxes, frying-pans, beakers, candlesticks, dripping-pans, skewers, stewing-pans with covers, copper kettles, chafing-dishes, hour-glasses, lamps, hammers, tankards, tin pans to roast apples, pot-hangers, dishes to boil fish on, mortars and pestles, waffle-irons, bellows, kettles, a birdcage, saucepans, platters, cans, pepper mills, tin ware to bake sugar cakes, marzipan pans, racks to hang clothes on, wicker baskets, hampers, tubs, glass knockers to beat clothes, smoothing irons, tin watering pots to wet clothes, rainwater casks, etc., etc.

In order to gain an idea of a lady's bedroom of the period, let us visit that of the wealthy Mrs. Lidia van der Dussen, the daughter of Jacob van Beveren, alderman of Dordrecht and bailiff and dike-count of the Country of Strijen. The house is one of those with a high peaked gable; it has oblong round-headed windows with small panes set in lead, and a facade decorated with carvings and arms, while the name of the house is inscribed in marble at the top. Green and red damask curtains at the windows give the exterior an air of cheerfulness and comfort. We enter. To the right of the large vestibule, the floor of which is laid in marble tiles of blue and white, a wide marble staircase leads to a wide marble hallway. The floor of this is covered with the finest Spanish matting, and on each side of the hall are doors opening into various rooms. These heavy doors are of oak, and are elaborately carved or painted with cherubs, shepherds and shepherdesses, etc. Opening one of these doors at the rear - the quietest part of the house - we find ourselves in a large room, the stone floor of which is covered with rich rugs, while tiles ornamented with bright pictorial designs, or mottoes, cover the walls.

The dark and heavy serge curtains that hang at the windows prevent us from distinguishing the furniture of the room very clearly; but we gradually make out the articles one by one. We note the splendid array of vases and beakers that adorn the wide mantelpiece, and also the top of the china cabinet of sacredaan wood, and the massive and richly carved, or deeply panelled, linen wardrobe, or kas. A handsome walnut bedstead stands in one corner of the room. The four twisted pillars support a canopy, from which fall heavy serge curtains, that conceal a wealth of fine linen and Flemish lace. The four corners of the canopy are surmounted by the favourite ornament of the period, the "pomme," consisting of a bunch of plumes, - in this instance of green, red and black. The walls, although encased in tiles, are hung with pictures in ebony frames, in addition to which there is a large Venetian mirror set in a rich crystal frame. A drop-leaf table stands in the centre of the room, surrounded by several chairs with high backs and low seats. The woodwork of these chairs, shining like glass from the devoted polishing it receives, is, like the china-cabinet already mentioned, of sacredaan.