Page:The Story of the Jubilee Singers (7th).djvu/265

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

great pleasure in listening to their songs, also sympathy with their object, making a handsome contribution towards the fund for Livingstone Hall. Baron and Baroness von Wassenaer de Catwijck gave a reception at their mansion in the Hague, where the Singers had the honour of appearing before her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, Prince Henry, Prince Alexander, and other members of the Royal family. There were also present many of the nobility, foreign ambassadors, and other distinguished personages. The Singers were presented to her Majesty by the Hon. James Birney, American Minister to the Netherlands, in an appropriate address, and her Majesty was pleased personally to express to the Singers the great delight their singing had afforded her, and her cordial sympathy with their mission. Her Majesty and Prince Henry also honoured the Singers by occupying the royal box at their public concert on the following Monday evening.

In Rotterdam and Amsterdam invitation concerts were arranged by the local committees which served properly to introduce the Singers and their mission. At every place which the Singers expected to visit, a local committee was formed which arranged all the matters of detail in connection with the concerts. Where there were no large halls the churches were opened to the Singers. Great cathedrals, as at Utrecht, Leenwarden, Harlegen, Zwolle, Dordrecht, Delft, Alkmaar, and Schiedam, were placed at the disposal of the committees for their use.