{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02727272727272727, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.627737226277373, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Spring Books: The triumph of life

and the eel, an emblem of life's slipperiness, seem to Schama to add up to a painting about the conflict between instinct and instruction, nature and nurture. But done, says Schama, with good humour. Interpretation, however, is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. Schama says the little girl is gesturing with her finger that her brother is crazy or screwy. But rather she appears to me simply to be adopting, playfully, the characteristic attitude ofa preacher or a Mrs Thatcher or a Mr Kinnock about to deliver another homily. A satire on adult moralising. But whatever the gesture indicates, the painting is a good example of the genial robustness of Dutch life, salting seriousness with fleshly good humour. An enviable attitude.