Station: [21] Living conditions and hygiene

“Simple bed frames filled with hay – that is how most tenants are accustomed to sleeping in Horst. Such stark conditions hardly allow for hygiene in today’s sense. Drinking water is mostly brackish, because the cesspit and water fountains are built much too close to each other. Waste is generally disposed of in the street, where rodents and vermin feast on it. There is no running water, thus it has to be laboriously lugged bucket for bucket to where it is needed from fountains or streams and lakes whenever laundry has to be done or someone wants to take a bath.

Even so, a definite step towards better hygiene is the copious consumption of beer: brewing it makes it much more palatable and much healthier than conventional drinking water. The beverage also happens to be a welcome calorie source: the poorer and drearier the food, the higher the value of beer. From today’s perspective, 16th century beer is quite a light brew with little alcohol, which is why even children drank it regularly ...”