Chapter XVI

Leeuwarden and Neighbourhood

An agricultural centre--A city of prosperity and health--The
fair Frisians--Metal head-dresses--Silver work--The
Chancellerie--A paradise of blue china--Jumping poles--The
sea swallow--A Sunday excursion--Dogs for England--The
idle busybodies--The stork--A critical village--The green
crop--The dyke--A linguist--Harlingen--A Dutch picture
collector--Franeker--The Planetarium--Dokkum's bad
reputation--A discursive guide-book--Bigamy punished--A
husband-tamer--Boxum's record--Sjuck's short way--The heroic
Bauck--A load of exorcists--Poor Lysse.

In an hour or two the train brings us to Leeuwarden, between flat
green meadows unrelieved save for the frequent isolated homesteads,
in which farm house, dairy, barn, cow stalls and stable are all under
one great roof that starts almost from the ground. On the Essex flats
the homesteads have barns and sheltering trees to keep them company:
here it is one house and a mere hedge of saplings or none at all. For
the rest--cows and plovers, plovers and cows.

Friesland's capital, Leeuwarden, might be described as an English
market town, such as Horsham in Sussex, scoured and carried out to its
highest power, rather than a small city. The cattle trade of Friesland
has here its headquarters, and a farmer needing agricultural implements
must fare to Leeuwarden to buy them. The Frisian farmer certainly does
need them, for it is his habit to take three crops of short hay off
his meadows, rather than one crop of long hay in the English manner.

Not only cattle but also horses are sold in Leeuwarden market. The
Frisian horse is a noble animal, truly the friend of man; and
the Frisians are fond of horses and indulge both in racing and in
trotting--or "hardraverij" as they pleasantly call it. I made a close
friend of a Frisian mare on the steamer from Rotterdam to Dort. At
Dort I had to leave her, for she was bound for Nymwegen. A most
charming creature.

Leeuwarden is large and prosperous and healthy. What one misses in it
is any sense of intimate cosiness. One seems to be nearer the elements,
farther from the ingratiating works of man, than hitherto in any Dutch
town. The strong air, the openness of land, the 180 degrees of sky, the
northern sharpness, all are far removed from the solace of the chimney
corner. It is a Spartan people, preferring hard health to overcoats;
and the streets and houses refl