42 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON
window. This existence was a tragic change
indeed from the lively social existence along the
canals of Amsterdam or on the stoops of Rottel -
dam.
Nor can we feel that these tenants were likely to
be greatly cheered by the library established at
Rensselaerswyck, unless there were hidden away a
list of more interesting books than those described
in the patroon's invoice as sent in an oosterse, or
oriental, box. These volumes include a Scripture
concordance, the works of Calvin, of Livy, and of
Ursinus, the friend of Melanchthon, A Treatise on
Arithmetic by Adrian Metius, The History of the
Holy Land, and a work on natural theology. As
all the titles are in Latin, it is to be presumed
that the body of the text was written in the same
language, and we may imagine the light and cheer-
ful mood which they inspired in their readers after
a day of manual toil.
I suspect, however, that the evening hours of
these tenants at Rensselaerswyck were spent in
anxious keeping of accounts with a wholesome fear
of the patroon before the eyes of the accountants.
Life on the bouweries was by no means inexpensive,
even according to modern standards. Bearing in
mind that a stiver was equivalent to two cents of