| “One old woman is fascinated with the camera.” (See page 171.) |
However, upon better acquaintance with the townspeople and the repeated assurances of our skipper, who speaks some English, that our purpose is an innocent one, we are allowed to photograph the whole town freely, and all its valuable possessions. Occasionally a guilder slipped quietly into the hand of one of the older women opens a new vein of good fortune, for they insist that “the gentleman shall be allowed to take the picture;” whether it be an old-fashioned interior with its quaint belongings, or a pretty maid too shy to hold her head up properly. One old woman is so fascinated with the camera that she asks me to take picture after picture of her homely wrinkled countenance. At first I do so to her extreme delight, but finally I only pretend to take her picture, and the last bewildering poses and bewitching smiles are all wasted upon an unimpressionable plate.
The Ancient Town of Monnikendam.