Life in Town and Country
actually handed the stuiver back to me. I inquired the reason for this strange action of his grandfather—for so he turned out to be—and was told that the child preferred a “smoke.” I gave him his sigaar, which he lit as carefully as would an older and more experienced smoker, after which he proceeded to enjoy it with beaming countenance. Smoking is probably a protection against malarial diseases likely to be engendered by the canals. If so, this applies to men only, for the women eschew the use of tobacco. Tobacco is cheap in Holland, and an excellent cigar is to be had for three Dutch cents, or a fraction over a halfpenny. To purchase anything more expensive is to brand oneself a foreigner. On one occasion I entered the shop of a tabaksverkooper (tobacconist) in a little place on the Lek, and asked for a five-cent cigar. “You will find the
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