DUTCH PEEPING GLASS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 84, 3 January 1929, Page 16

DUTCH PEEPING GLASS

A REFLECTION OF THE STREET. Be it ever so humble there is no cottage in Northern Belgium or Holland without its 'peeping glass. Some have two, but nearly everyone has at least one point of observation from which the looker-out can see without being seen. This takes the form of a piece of mirror glass placed outside the ground floor front window, at right angles to the sash, so that anyone sitting within on the opposite side of the window can see who is coming along the footpath, without the observer being seen. These peeping glasses are so common in tlie wayside cottages that are built out flush with the line of tlie footpath, that they cease to be noticeable after a time. To tlie goodwife, who has finished her day's cleaning, and can afford the time to sit down and do a bit of sewing or laee work, the little pieces of mirror are a reflection of the street, and all that is going on in the village. One can tell who is knocking at the door before answering the knock, and can therefore exercise all the Dutch caution in being ready for the inquiry, request, or whatever it may be.