ALBANY AND ITS ANNALS           195

learned ministers, who were university graduates.
When the weaknesses of age were creeping on,
these showed the graces and virtues and the faults
and infirmities of men who in the sacred office
have the usual experiences in dealing with saints
and sinners, — the former sometimes giving as
much trouble to the shepherd of the flock as did
the straying sheep. One of these lovely characters
wanting to get rid of his Domine, after making his
life a burden gave him a strong hint that he had
better go to a new field. The reverend pastor, on
opening his door one morning, found a walking
staff and a loaf of bread, and on the doorstep a
pair of shoes with the toes pointing outward. In
each shoe lay a silver coin for the journey.

Such things were not done in frontier days.
Only when men had become purse-proud was the
roughness of frontier life exchanged for subtle
malice. After a few generations most of the indus¬
trious Albany folks were well off, and then Jesh-
urun often " waxed fat and kicked." In the main,
however, the relations between the Domine and
his household and with all his parishioners were
mutually pleasant. The threefold influences ema¬
nating from the Stadt-Huys, the manorial man¬
sion, and the parsonage, with the abundant wealth
of the burghers, the frequent visits of the Indians
in both groups and crowds, the numerous negro
slaves and servants in gay livery, and the almost
constant coming and going of royal regiments and