92 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON
Amsterdam. De Vries has left us an account of a
conversation held in 1642 between himself and
Kief t in which he told the Director that there was
great need of a church, that it was a scandal when
the English came that they should see only a mean
barn for public worship, that the first thing built
in New England after the dwellings was a church,
and that there was the less excuse for the Dutch as
they had fine wood, good stone, and lime made
from oyster shells, close at hand. The Director
admitted the justice of the plea but asked who
would undertake the work. "Those who love the
Reformed Religion/' De Vries answered. Kieft
replied adroitly that De Vries must be one of them,
as he had proposed the plan, and that he should
give a hundred guilders. De Vries craftily ob-
served that Kieft as commander must be the first
giver. Kieft bethought himself that he could use
several thousand guilders from the Company's
funds. Not only was he as good as his word, but
later he contrived to extort private subscriptions
on the occasion of the marriage of Bogardus's step-
daughter. As usual when the domine was present,
the wine flowed freely. "The Director thought
this a good time for his purpose, and set to work
after the fourth or fifth drink; and he himself