Chapter 46 - The orrery
Approximately one hour later, Louisa and James joined the Fitzhenry family in the breakfast room of the hotel. Martin, who had preferred to start packing their suitcases first, joined them a little later. He looked at the noisy little group and chose to sit at the other, more quiet end of the table. He stated that Tom wasnkt there yet.
The children were happily chatting and enjoying their slices of bread with hagelslag. Martin frowned at the sight of thoe empty calories, but he was relieved when he saw that all of the children also had a bowl of fresh fruit next to their plate and refrained from commenting on it.
Louisa, with James next to her in the very practical highchair that Morwenna had given them, looked up from her task of slicing a banana for her son. She smiled her glorious smile to her husband when she saw him and then continoued to feed her son. She was in a cheerful conversation with Kathy.
Martin looked at her, she looked even more beautiful than ever. Of course happiness is highly overrated, but he had to admit that at this very moment she looked really happy. He knew that their physical activity, not even an hour ago, was the main reason for Louisa's rosy cheeks and her radiant gaze. At the thought of it, he felt his eartips redden, but his heart swelled with pride knowing that he sometimes succeeded in what that pig loving moron of a vicar said was the key question of a good mariage: do I make her happy? Well... at least last night he did, obviously!
He changed his focus and looked at Tom's wife for a moment. She too looked radiant and happy this morning. Martin didn't need much imagination to find the reason for that, needless to say that the thought of it turned his eartips scarlet red. He scraped his throat and poured himself a coffee to distract himself.
At that moment Thomas entered the breakfast room and made a small tour around the table to wish his children a good morning. Then he took the seat opposite from Martin. Martin sincerely hoped that Thomas wouldn't make any misplaced jokes about nuptial pleasures or something of the kind. That would kill the esteem that started to grow for this man and his family. So, when Tom just wished him good morning and asked him if he had a good night, Martin sighed with relief and simply said : 'yes'.
Young Kathy had finished her breakfast and came to see her new friend once more. As there were no chairs free at that part of the table, she just stood next to his chair and leaned against his arm.
'Let dr. Ellingham finish his breakfast, Kathy', Tom said to his daughter.
'Ehmm, it's OK Tom', Martin replied and he briefly put his arm around the slender shoulders. 'If your brother takes your place, you can sit next to me'. The boys also had finished their breakfast and asked if they could go and play. 'Yes, but be nice to each other', Tom told took her brother's seat immediately and started a conversation with her favourite doctor.
'Where are you going to today dr. Ellingham?' Kathy asked.
Although his first reflex was to say 'none of your business', he quietly answered 'We are going to the orrery in Franeker'.
'What is an orrerly?', the curious girl asked.
'An orrery is a planetarium, a working model of the solar system. The one we are going to visit is made by a man called Eise Eisinga an he lived in Franeker'.
'Can we go there too, daddy?'
'Yes, but not today. Today, we have another appointment at the horse center. So I'm afraid you'll have to say goodbye to Martin and Louisa, Kathy'.
The Fitzhenries would stay another night in Dokkum and they gathered at the entrance of the hotel to wish the Ellinghams a pleasant stay in the Veluwe region, where they would go for two nights before going to Wourkum to visit Martinus and Lisa.
Showing that they were two well behaved English children, two boys shook hands with Martin and Louisa. 'Goodby Mrs. and Dr. Ellingham', they mumbled vaguely. 'Bye bye, James', they added and tousled the boy's baby hair. And off they went again, to whatever game they were playing.
A waiter saw the little scene and wished that more of the families that stayed at the hotel had such well educated nice children. Quite something else than most of the spoiled screaming and whining Dutch children, brought up in the so called "modern" way - meaning basically that they weren't brought up at all and just did what they wanted without ever being stopped or corrected.
Young Kathy was in tears. 'I'm going to miss you all so much', she said softly. Louisa crouched in front of her and wiped her tears with a tissue.
'We will come and see you in England soon, promised!', she said.
The little girl hugged her and said, 'that would be great, Mrs. Ellingham!' Then she turned to Martin and held out a hand to him.
'Goodbye dr. Ellingham, please come to our place soon!'
'Yes... be a good girl and remember, you also learn lots of things by playing together with friends. Don't just hide behind a book.' He then did something unusual. He bent forward and hugged her and she hugged him back.
After a warm goodbye between the adults, Martin and Louisa took of to Franeker.
On the way to Franeker, Martin gave a short explanation of what to expect.
'The Eise Eisinga Planetarium is the oldest still working planetarium in the world. It's mainly made of wood. To create the gears for the model, 10,000 handmade nails were used. Now it has become a museum, but when Eisinga made it, he built the orrery in his own house.
The "face" of the model looks down from the ceiling of what used to be his living room, with most of the mechanical works in the space above the ceiling. It is driven by a pendulum clock, which has 9 weights or ponds. The planets move around the model in real time, automatically. A slight "re-setting" must be done by hand every four years to compensate for the February 29th of a leap year. In addition to the basic orrery, there are displays of the phase of the moon and other astronomical phenomena.
The planetarium includes a display for the current time and date. The plank that has the year numbers written on it has to be replaced every 22 years'.
'That sounds quite interesting, Martin!', Louisa said enthusiastically. She loved anything related to mathematics and from the description Martin gave, she could already picture the man busying with those nails and other material to build the planets and how they would move in the system.
At the museum, they took some time to read more about Eise Eisinga and the building of the planetarium.
Eise Eisinga was born in Dronrijp on February 21, 1744. He attended primary school there. Although Eisinga was moderately gifted, he was not allowed to go to school any further. Like many children, at that time, he had to work at home, which his case was in his father's wool combing establishment. In addition to combing wool, he inherited his father's interest in matters such as astronomy and mathematics. He was so curious that he went to Franeker every week, where he studied Euclides's maths books with Willem Wijtses, a wool dyer. Through self-education he mastered mathematics and astronomy, which he also studied at the Franeker Academy. When he was only 17 years old, he published a book about the principles of astronomy. At the age of 24, Eisinga married Pietje Jacobs, after which he settled in Franeker in 1768, working as a wool comber they had three children, one girl and two boys.
On May 8, 1774, a special constellation of planets formed. In the early morning, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the moon were positioned closely in the sky. Reverend Eelco Alta, from Boazum, Netherlands, published a book in which he interpreted this as a return to the state of the planets at the day of creation and a likely occasion for Armageddon. Alta predicted that the planets and the moon would collide, with the result that the earth would be pushed out of its orbit and burned by the sun. In April 1774, a newspaper called Leeuwarder Courant published an article about this 'lover of truth', as he called himself. His book carried the title: 'Philosophical concerns about the conjunction of the planets'. Alta's ideas caused a lot of panic among the population. The authorities attempted to intervene by banning the piece of writing, but the damage had already been done.
A canonical view holds that Eisinga's vast knowledge of mathematics and astronomy came in handy. This view starts from the point of view that Eisinga decided to build an orrery in his living room in order to prove that there was no reason for panic. It was said that he expected to finish it within six months, but it took him until 1781 to turn his initial idea into a working orrery, seven years after he started. Recent research indicates that this chain of causality is dubious, not in the last place because Eijsinga appears to have commenced construction before the publication of Alta's book.
In the year that Eisinga finished the planetarium, Uranus was discovered, but there was no room for this planet on the ceiling of his living room, where the orrery was located.
On 30 June 1818, King William I of the Netherlands and Prince Frederik visited the orrery. King William I bought the orrery for the Dutch state. In 1859, the orrery was donated by the Dutch state to the city of Franeker.
Ever since 1781, Eisinga's model has closely followed the paths of the 6 planets in our solar system. This makes it the oldest still-functioning planetarium in the world.
Martin and Louisa were really impressed by the orrery. Martin started a discussion with an employee of the museum about the gears and the meticulous system that has to be behind it. As an amateur clock repairer, this museum was one he had always wanted to visit. The man, clock repairer himself as well, was impressed by the way Martin had prepared his visit. Although not open for the public, Martin was invited to the place above the ceiling of the former living room and their guide showed them the impressive machinery behind the orrery. Louisa, following the two men holding James firmly in her arms. Martin's enthousiasm for this museum amused her. She even saw a tiny smile appear on his face and knew that this would be a day neither of them would never forget.
From time to time, Martin looked up, to see if Louisa wasn't bored, but she just enjoyed being there and see him completely absorbed by the magic of the moving gears.
When James became fussy and started to cry, Louisa shushed him and decided to go outside with her son.
'Take your time Martin, we'll make a little stroll through the village', she said with a last glance at the two men, who had their heads bended over the gear system that displays the phases of the moon. All she got as an answer was a short but gentle grunt.
More than an hour later, Martin found his wife sitting at a table in a neighbouring restaurant, their son sleeping in the stroller. Martin ordered an espresso. He sat down in front of Louisa and looked at what she was doing. Louisa had a notebook in front of her, making a kind of scheme and a lot of notes.
'I decided to a project about the solar system after half term, she said. The class can make the different planets in the right proportions and colours and then we can go to the top of Roscarock hill and place them in the right order and the right distances.. I wonder if Eise and his family discussed the project together when he was making it.. Maybe they even helped him?'
Martin looked at her quizzically. 'What has your craft project to do with the Eisinga family and Eisinga's orrery?'
Louisa rolled her eyes, 'Nothing Martin, shall we go? The Veluwe, isn't it?' And then she put on her coat and collected her things
Martin emptied his cup of coffee in one gulp and followed his wife, with a knot in his stomach, because he had no clue of what he had done wrong this time.. if he had done something wrong at all... He shrugged his shoulders and decided to forget about it...
'Yes the Veluwe... we've seen enough cities and people the last couple of days, off we go to peace and quiet!' He said and started the engine of the Lexus.
To be continued
Dear readers, thank you for your patience. With the move of my work to Amsterdam and the need to commute 100 miles a day, three to four times a week, I had to find a new rythm in my life before I could free the time for some writing...