e long procession of scarred
and famished creatures who after the siege, with Adrian van der Werf
at their head, tottered to the great church to sing a glorious anthem
because Leyden was free! He remembered that this was even before they
had tasted the bread brought by the Dutch ships. They would praise
God first, then eat. Thousands of trembling voices were raised in glad
thanksgiving. For a moment it swelled higher and higher, then suddenly
changed to sobbing--not one of all the multitude could sing another
note. But who shall say that anthem, even to its very end, was not heard
in heaven!

Here, in The Hague, other thoughts came to Ben--of how Holland in later
years unwillingly put her head under the French yoke, and how, galled
and lashed past endurance, she had resolutely jerked it out again. He
liked her for that. What nation of any spirit, thought he, could be
expected to stand such work, paying all her wealth into a foreign
treasury and yielding up the flower of her youth under foreign
conscription. It was not so very long ago, either, since English guns
had been heard booming close by in the German Ocean; well--all the
fighting was over at last. Holland was a snug little monarchy now in her
own right, and Ben, for one, was glad of it. Arrived at this charitable
conclusion, he was prepared to enjoy to the utmost all the wonders of
her capital; he quite delighted Mynheer van Gend with his hearty and
intelligent interest--so, in fact, did all the boys, for a merrier, more
observant party never went sight-seeing.

Through the Hague

The picture gallery in the Maurits Huis, *{A building erected by Prince
Maurice of Nassau.} one of the finest in the world, seemed to have only
flashed by the boys during a two-hour visit, so much was there to
admire and examine. As for the royal cabinet of curiosities in the same
building, they felt that they had but glanced at it, though they were
there nearly half a day. It seemed to them that Japan had poured all her
treasures within its walls. For a long period Holland, always foremost
in commerce, was the only nation allowed to have any intercourse with
Japan. One can well forego a journey to that country if he can but visit
the museum at The Hague.

Room after room is filled with collections from the Hermit
Empire--costumes peculiar to various ranks and pursuits, articles of
ornament, household utensils, weapons, armor, and surgical instruments.
There is also an in