"(...)  Holland, as already noted, has long been celebrated for its benevolent and philanthropic institutions. Nearly every town of any importance throughout the little kingdom contains a home for old men or old women, an orphanage, an institution for the blind or the crippled. On the elaborately adorned fa‡ades of the houses, in many cases, the decorative group that most readily attracts the eye is one showing that it adorns the refuge for the respectable and aged poor, or for the lonely and helpless orphan. Among the many interesting and abiding impressions produced by a journey through Holland, none is more constantly deepened than this- that the people of Holland recognise fully the claims of the afflicted and needy, and do much in the way of meeting these responsibilities.
     Some of these institutions are the result of the benefactions of past ages; but the philanthropic spirit is alive no less in the Holland of to-day. One of the most interesting of the recent benevolent enterprises is the orphanage at Neerbosch, near Nymegen, and a few lines devoted to a visit there may serve to illustrate this phase of Dutch life and goodness.
     From one side of the market-place in Nymegen the ground slopes abruptly to the river, and is occupied by a number of narrow, winding, unprepossessing streets. One of the dingiest of these is called Brouwerstraat. In this street twenty-four years ago stood a large roomy house, silent and unoccupied, enjoying the reputation of being haunted. Mr. Van t' Lindenhout, an evangelist and colporteur, during his journeyings through Holland had been painfully impressed by the sight of the sufferings of many orphans, whom none of the existing organisations seemed able to reach, and the desire to do something for them gradually passed into resolution and action. He saw this old haunted house; he took it entirely by faith and in reliance upon God's help; he determined to fill its empty rooms and replace its imaginary occupants by very real and very needy Dutch boys and girls. On November 1st, 1863, two orphans entered into possession. Although the way was sometimes rough, and faith was sorely tried, the work has gone steadily onwards since that day. In four years the number of orphans increased to sixty-five, and the old house in Brouwerstraat was filled to overflowing.
     In the summer of 1866 Mr. Van 't Lindenhout received a letter from a friend stating that he and his brothers and sisters had bought a farm at a village called Neerbosch, about three miles from Nymegen, and wished to give part of the land for the use of the orphans. It was resolved to begin at once the erection of suitable premises. Many were the difficulties and the prophecies of failure; but the work went forward, and on May 6th, 1867, a house capable of receiving thirty-four orphan girls was opened.
     In the summer of 1886, that is, seventeen years after the first building was opened at Neerbosch, it was the writer's good fortune to visit the orphanage in the company of a Dutch pastor who has for many years been one of the warmest friends of the institution. It was a beautiful July day, and as we drove out of Nymegen, we caught glimpses of the Rhine, spanned by the great railway bridge, and we looked out from time to time over a wide expanse of fertile country. The winding road passed by many trim villas, where bright shining windows, spotlessly clean appearance, and well-kept gardens, spoke of abundance, comfort, and refinement. At length, leaving the main road, we passed along a narrow country lane, flanked on either side by flat fertile fields. Unlike many parts of Holland, there is in this district an abundance of wood, and the foliage looked very pleasant in the full light of the summer sun. The carriage stopped at last near the door of a quiet, unpretending house, which turned out to be the home of Mr. Van t' Lindenhout, the founder and director of the orphanage. Large in build, with a kindly face and pleasant smile, he strikes a stranger at once as a man of heart, and one has only to see him among the children to recognise instantly that those shrewd judges of character regard him as a loving friend.
     In a few minutes we set out upon our tour of inspection. The thirty-four orphans of 1867, had increased in 1886 to over eight hundred, and the one small house into the colony of buildings which now cover a large area. The children come very young, not unfrequently even when they are babies, and they stay until as young men and women they are ready to enter upon the battle of life; and as each boy and girl is taught some trade or occupation by which they can support themselves, a great variety of buildings is required. We began by visiting the workshops. We first entered a printing establishment, and saw all the processes of a large printing business going energetically forward. Here various kinds of work are undertaken, and they have even successfully printed a Sanscrit New Testament. The foremen and leading workmen in all the shops in nearly every case had entered the place as helpless orphans, and hence they have a fellow-feeling and true sympathy for the boys and girls who come under their training.    (meer)

We passed on to the bookbinders' building, and then to watch the processes of an employment that appears strange to an English eye, the manufacture of sabots, that is, the cutting of blocks of wood into wooden shoes, which, if they cannot be described as elegant, are most certainly useful. More than 5000 pairs are turned out annually.We looked in upon the young cabinet makers and carpenters and blacksmiths ; upon the tailors busily making the orphans' clothing; upon the laundry, where bright rosy-cheeked girls were washing and ironing the vast quantities of garments forming the weekly wash of the institution; and then we looked over the large farm with its barns and sheds and dairies.
     The girls for the most part are trained as domestic servants, and before they leave they have a thorough knowledge of the different parts of household work. The boys are allowed to select their own trade, and in those cases only where the boy cannot make up his mind does the director decide for him. Not only do the orphans thus learn useful trades and become fitted to take their place in life as good citizens, but their labour, while at Neerbosch, in addition to supplying all the requirements of the institution, is a source of considerable revenue.
     Side by side with the work, education is going on. Most of those in the workshops pass part of the day in school, and hundreds of the children are wholly occupied with lessons. So, after looking at the work departments, we made a round of the schoolroom. We visited first the nursery, and saw several babies flourishing under the care of nurses trained in the orphanage. It was pleasant also to see four or five white-headed plump youngsters, three or four years old, come running up to Mr. Van 't Lindenhout as to an old friend. In turn, we saw the junior schoolrooms. There were many of them, and were all bright, airy, and very well appointed. It was a pleasure indeed to look upon row after row of rosy, healthy-looking faces. In fact, it must be hard for children to get ill at Neerbosch, and one felt that it was not wholly a misfortune to be left an orphan when it led to an entrance into and claim upon such a home. Compared with the lives of multitudes of the poor who live with their parents, both in Holland and England, these children were in luxury. Not that there are any signs of luxury and indulgence about the various buildings and schools. Everything is as plain as it well can be. There is nothing to pamper the children; but, on the other hand, all things seem adapted to meet the wants of healthy childhood and to develop the education, self-control, and fitness for the duties and responsibilities of life.
     At a sign from the teacher in one or two of the rooms the children rose and sang some hymns and national airs, and recited. As this took place in the Dutch language, the enjoyment to an English visitor consisted in watching the bright faces, noting the careful drill and accurate combined execution, and marvelling that a language which looks in its printed form so repulsively unharmonious could ever be made, even by children-voices, to sound so pleasant.
A visit to the dormitories showed us room after room full of tiny cots, all spotlessly clean and airy and comfortable. Land being plentiful, there has been no effort to erect large and inposing buildings. Instead of one or two huge erections, there is a large number of two-storied buildings - schoolrooms on the groundfloor and dormitories above.
     In one part of the establishment there is a fine large wooden church, built and finished entirely by the orphans. It will seat more than one thousand persons. While inspecting this, a portion of the choir entered and sang sweetly some of the hymns used in their ordinary services.
     Wandering from farm to laundry, from the large and handsome church to the unpretending home of the director, almost losing oneself in the variety and number of the buildings, it was hard to realise that only twenty years ago this was open fields, yielding little, if anything, to the culture of man. Now the whole establishment stands as evidence of what, under the blessing of God, may be done on behalf of the needy and helpless by the faith and zeal and enthusiasm of one devoted Christian man. It is true that he has had helpers and sympathisers and fellow-workers. Circles of friends hold working meetings on behalf of the orphans in all parts of Holland. Places as remote as the islands of Marken and Urk do their share. In 1886 Mr. Van t' Lindenhout visited America, to stir up among the many Dutch emigrants in the United States interest in, and sympathy and aid for, his work. But, making all allowances for the support thus given, one cannot but feel in the presence of the founder and director that it has been all largely the work of his heart, and that the children judge by a true instinct when they show by their manner that they look upon him more as a father than as a master. Ties are kept up as far as possible with those who go out from the institution. If misfortune, or illness, or any of the chances of life throw any boy or girl who has once belonged to Neerbosch upon the uncertain mercies of the world, there is always a welcome, and such help as they may need, waiting for them at the old home. (...)

Richard Lovett, M.A. Pictures from Holland. London, The Religious Tract Society, 1887, pp 182-188