This also is a friendly
unspoiled northern inn, where the bill of fare is arranged with a
nice thought to the requirements of the Free Frisian. I kept no note
of the meal, but I recollect the occurrence at one stage of plovers'
eggs (which the Dutch eat hot, dropping them into cold water for an
instant to ensure the easy removal of the shell), and at another,
some time later, of duckling with prunes.
The popularity of the name Doelen as a Dutch sign might have a word
of explanation. Doelen means target, or shooting saloon; and shooting
at the mark was a very common and useful recreation with the Dutch
in the sixteenth century. At first the shooting clubs met only to
shoot--as in the case of the arquebusiers in Rembrandt's "Night Watch,"
who are painted leaving their Doelen; later they became more social
and the accessories of sociability were added; and after a while
the accessories of sociability crowded out the shooting altogether,
and nothing but an inn with the name Doelen remained of what began
as a rifle gallery.
At Groningen, which is a large prosperous town, and the birthplace
both of Joseph Israels and H.W. Mesdag, cheese and dairy produce are
left behind. We are now in the grain country. Groningen is larger
than Leeuwarden--it has nearly seventy thousand inhabitants--and its
evening light seemed to me even more beautifully liquid.
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