e wanted to hang up Jan Mulder, what should we say?"

"Patibulare--ad patibulum!" cried the scholars. Van Hout, who had just
been smiling, grew very grave. Drawing a long breath, he said:

"Patibulo is a bad Latin word, and your fathers, who formerly sat here,
understood its meaning far less thoroughly than you. Now, every child in
the Netherlands knows it, Alva has impressed it on our minds. More than
eighteen thousand worthy citizens have come to the gallows through his
'ad patibulum.'"

With these words he pulled his short black doublet through his girdle,
advanced nearer the first desk, and bending his muscular body forward,
said with constantly increasing emotion:

"'This shall be enough for to-day, boys. It will do no great harm, if
you afterwards forget the names earned here. But always remember
one thing: your country first of all. Leonidas and his three hundred
Spartans did not die in vain, so long as there are men ready to follow
their example. Your turn will come too. It is not my business to boast,
but truth is truth. We Hollanders have furnished fifty times three
hundred men for the freedom of our native soil. In such stormy times
there are steadfast men; even boys have shown themselves great. Ulrich
yonder, at your head, can bear his nickname of Lowing with honor.
'Hither Persians--hither Greeks!' was said in ancient times, but we cry:
'Hither Netherlands, hither Spain!' And indeed, the proud Darius never
ravaged Greece as King Philip has devastated Holland. Ay, my lads,
many flowers bloom in the breasts of men. Among them is hatred of the
poisonous hemlock. Spain has sowed it in our gardens. I feel it
growing within me, and you too feel and ought to feel it. But don't
misunderstand me! 'Hither Spain--hither Netherlands!' is the cry, and
not: 'Hither Catholics and hither Protestants.' Every faith may be
right in the Lord's eyes, if only the man strives earnestly to walk in
Christ's ways. At the throne of Heaven, it will not be asked: Are you
Papist, Calvinist, or Lutheran? but: What were your intentions and acts?
Respect every man's belief; but despise him who makes common cause with
the tyrant against the liberty of our native land. Now pray silently,
then you may go home."

The scholars rose; Van Hout wiped the perspiration from his high
forehead, and while the boys were collecting books, pencils, and pens,
said slowly, as if apologizing to himself for the words already uttered:

"What I have told