Jacob van Lennep route, Part 17 (Steenwijk - Heerenveen)

Settler life
On Saturday, July 5, Van Lennep and Van Hogendorp arrive at one of the colonies of the Society of Benevolence. Van Lennep is critical. For example, he wonders whether school-age children are taught enough in writing, reading and arithmetic: after all, they will soon form "a new society". Geert Mak also pays a lot of attention to this subject in the fifth TV episode. He tells us, among other things, that a third of the townspeople in 1823 lived on the distribution, the earlier version of the food bank.

Final report Drenthe
On Sunday, July 6, travelers will take a trip to Vledder. They have to, it's the closest place to a church. As always, the travelers take a seat on the 'government bench': the front row reserved for people of rank. The colonists also go to mass here. Van Lennep does not like the fact that"(...) all Reformed, regardless of denomination, are forced to go to church with the Calvinists\\\". On Monday, July 7, Van Lennep and Van Hogendorp leave Drenthe. Once again, the reader receives a final verdict in the book: the people of Drenthe are a friendly person, but his country is difficult to travel through.

Wolvega

Van Lennep seems almost relieved that he can see the beautiful Frisian country estates again, despite his earlier, less than positive assessment of the Frisians . On Wednesday, July 9, he was woken up in the inn in Wolvega by an angry Van Hogendorp. Van Lennep overslept. Dazed, he looks at his watch: it is six o'clock. In the morning...

Floor sources
-Jakob van Lennep," The summer of 1823": part 2, chapters 2 and 3.
-Geert Mak, The summer of 1823 as a television series : episode 5.
-Maya Schepers, The summer of 1823 as a radio series : episode 5.