me 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. These also are decorated according to the pretty
Hindeloopen usage, one for the dead of each trade. Order even in
death. The Hindeloopen baker who has breathed his last must be carried
to the grave on the bakers' bier, or the proprieties will wince.

After Hindeloopen the first town of importance on the way to Leeuwarden
is Sneek; and Sneek is not important. But Sneek has a water-gate of
quaint symmetrical charm, with two little spires--the least little
bit like the infant child of the Amsterdam Gate at Haarlem. In common
with so many Frisian towns Sneek has suffered from flood. A disastrous
inundation overwhelmed her on the evening of All Saints' Day in 1825,
when the dykes were broken and the water rushed in to the height
of five feet. Such must be great times of triumph for the floating
population, who, like the sailor in the old ballad of the sea, may
well pity the unfortunate and insecure dwellers in houses. What the
number of Friesland's floating population is I do not know; but it
must be very large. Many barges and tjalcks are both the birthplace
and deathplace of their owners, who know no other home. The cabins
are not less intimately cared for and decorated than the sitting-rooms
of Volendam and Marken.

We saw at Edam certain odd characters formed in Nature's wayward
moods. Sneek also possessed a giant named Lange Jacob, who was eight
feet tall and the husband of Korte Jannetje (Little Jenny), who was
just half that height. People came from great distances to see this
couple. And at Sneek, in the church of St. Martin, is buried a giant
of more renown and prowess--Peter van Heemstra, or "Lange Pier" as he
was called from his inches, a sea ravener of notable ferocity, whose
two-handed sword is preserved at Leeuwar