"But not only in church have I had the opportunity of hearing him, but at funerals also."
"Then you condescend to go to funerals too?"
"Not as a habit. But you must know that most of the people there beg me to act as sponsor to their new-born children. Now, two-thirds of our children seem only born to die, and I am obliged to always go to the funerals of my little protégés."
"Then Esaias is in the habit of speaking and singing over them?"
"Yes, and what beautiful speeches they are too, all in verse."
"So Esaias is a poet into the bargain?"
"Yes, he really makes most beautiful verses."
"And I've no doubt he wrote a nice onomasticon on St. Elizabeth's Day?"
"He did nothing of the kind. He's not that sort of man. It is not his habit to flatter anybody; on the contrary, he always tells them the truth to their faces."
"That is generally the distinguishing characteristic of all Calvinist schoolmasters."