I never saw so happy a room. On the wall is a cabinet
of curios and silver ornaments.
The larger room is similiar but more costly. On the wall are fine
Delft plates, and seated at the table are wax Hindeloopeners: a man
with a clay pipe and tobacco box, wearing a long flowered waistcoat,
a crossed white neckcloth and black coat and hat--not unlike a Quaker
in festival attire; and his neat and very picturesque women folk
are around him. In the cradle, enshrined in ornamentations, is a
Hindeloopen baby. More old silver and shining brass here and there,
and the same resolute cheerfulness of colouring everywhere. Some of
the houses in which such rooms were found still stand at Hindeloopen.
The Dutch once liked puns, and perhaps still do so. Again and again
in their old inscriptions one finds experiments in the punning art,
On the church of Hindeloopen, for example, are these lines:--
Des heeren woord
Met aandacht hoort
Komt daartoe met hoopen
Als hinden loopen.
The poet must have had a drop of Salvationist blood in his veins,
for only in General Booth's splendid followers do we look for such
spirited invitations. The verses call upon worshippers to run together
like deer to hear the word of God.
Within the great church, among other interesting things, are a large
number of biers.
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