THE BURGHERS 113

"bite and stir" boxes, were set on the table and,
according to one authority, the lumps of sugar
were of the nature of toffy with molasses added to
the sugar.

The feast ended, the young folk went their
homeward way lighted by the moon, or, late in the
century, on dark nights by a lantern hung on a
pole from every seventh house. When the curfew
rang from the belfry "eight o'clock," lights were
put out and all was made fast for the night, while
the children's minds were set at rest by the tramp
of the klopperman, who shook his rattle at each
door as he passed from house to house through the
dark hours, assuring the burghers that all was well
and that no marauders were about.

If winter offered sports and pastimes, spring,
summer, and autumn had each its own pleasures,
fishing and clam digging, shooting and trapping,
games with ball and slings, berry picking, and the
gathering of peaches which fell so thickly that the
very hogs refused them. The market days in New
Amsterdam offered a long procession of delights
to the young colonists. But merriest of all were
the holidays which were observed in New Nether-
land after much the same fashion as in the old

home.
&