After completing Grade Six, Hinne's schooldays were seemingly over. He was needed on the farm. Not that he was not used to farm work. Already for many years he had to pitch in. The whole family did.

Herman, his eldest brother, was the one Opa Cornelis de Jong relied on the most. Next was brother Jaap. But not everyone could become a farmer. Jaap got a job with Hinne's uncle, Oom Ane Swart, as a baker's helper. Brother Piet loved to be on the farm, but, deep down, he wanted to go to sea. So, Piet talked one day with Jan and Kees Roos, who lived in Midsland (a village in the center of the island). They took him on as a helper on their merchant sailing boat.

The Roos' brothers regularly sailed to Amsterdam with their "tjalk" (a large sailing boat) to pick up freight for the northerners. Hinne well remembered how, after such a trip, Opa Cornelis and Herman would go to the West Terschellinger harbor with the horse-drawn wagon to pick up the goods they would then deliver all over town and beyond.

Finding food for the animals

The de Jong farm didn't have sufficient pasture for all the cattle. So, Hinne and his brothers were told to search for places where the young animals could graze. Often they ended up on the “groene strand” (i.e. green strand) of the “Noordvaarder,” a sandy flat area of immense size lying between the village and the North Sea.

Over many years in the past, as the dunes by the sea side began to grow, blow and shift, the "Noordvaarder" increased in size, and larger and larger sections of it remained unaffected by the tides and stayed dry. This part became known as the "groene strand," for that's where grass and plants started to grow. The area became an important source of food for the island's animals.

Jaap, Piet and Hinne had to keep an eye on the animals they brought here. With a rope they tied each animal to a stake in the sand, and these stakes had to be moved once in a while after all the grass had been eaten. Hinne wrote: "On bare feet we ran all the way from the village through the dunes to the 'groene strand' and other spots to check on the beasts. Mostly in the morning and evenings, but sometimes also at noon."

Of hornets, hides and tanners

In the early years, the animals suffered a lot from cattle hornets. If these hornets burrowed through the skin of the animals they went crazy and often escaped. It would take Hinne and his brothers hours to find them again and stake them down. Hinne wrote that - ten years later - no one talked about cattle hornets anymore. What happened?

The hornets attacked especially the young animals, laying their eggs on their backs. Later, the larvae burrowed under the skin, causing big boils to develop. The birds would be attracted to these boils and they would ride along on the back of the animals picking away at the larvae. Eventually, the animals had big holes on their backs. The tanners in those days had no use for these damaged animal hides. So, they got together and eventually developed a cure to, once for all, get rid of those pesky hornets.

In his memoirs, Hinne did not dwell much on how that cure was found. He wrote: "It's too bad that nothing was available during the time I had to run after these animals. It would have saved me a lot of sweat and tears. The horses suffered a lot from these hornets, too. When I was driving them, I often stopped the wagon and went after the hornets sitting on their backs and swat them to death."

A memorable school trip Hinne didn't make

Because Hinne had to chase the animals he often had to skip school. He wrote: "For this reason, I was not allowed to go on a school class trip one day to the mainland. This would have been such a nice outing for me, because, until then, I had never been off the island of Terschelling!"

The school trip Hinne was referring caused many people on the island a great deal of concern. At the end of the outing the class and teachers got back to Harlingen harbor to make the trip from the Frisian mainland to Terschelling. They boarded the ferry "Minister Kraus" and all was well until the weather began to deteriorate. Once the sea got rough, many kids began to cry or get sick.

About half way between the Frisian coast and the islands of Vlieland and Terschelling lies a sandbank, called "De Griend." The sea is calmer there. Arriving here, the captain of the "Minister Kraus" did not dare to go further. What he meant by “further” were the dangerous areas called the "Vliestroom" and the "Stortemelk," two places where you don't want to be in a storm. So, he decided to ride his anchor and wait for better weather.

Meanwhile, the kids' parents and others gathered at "Het Wakende Oog" (The Watchful Eye) at the harbor in West Terschelling. When the boat did not arrive on time people started to worry. Harlingen harbor was phoned and they said the boat had left on time. Vlieland harbor was phoned, but they looked and could not find the "Minister Kraus" on the seas. The crowd waited all through the night! Still, no sign of the ship....

Early the next day, the weather improved and the sea became calmer. The captain decided to lift anchor and continue on to Terschelling. Wrote Hinne: " Fortunately, all went well. The captain probably made a good decision, but he caused the parents to have a bad night. And why did he not send a radio message to the "Brandaris' (lighthouse)? Anyhow, my parents were happy that I had not gone along."

A walk through the night

One day, Opa Cornelis de Jong sold a cow which had to be delivered to the "Wadden Zee" dike by Hoorn, today a substantial village located in the eastern part of Terschelling. The animal had to be there at 8 o'clock in the morning. That meant leaving West Terschelling village on foot around the middle of the night. Hinne and his brother Herman had to do the job, with Herman pulling the animal on a rope in the front, and Hinne walking behind the cow poking her once in a while with a stick.

Wrote Hinne: "My mother tied a cloth around my head, because it was cold and we had to walk three to four hours. We went along the 'Dellewal' and then along the path next to the dike. We arrived on time by the boat. A harness was attached to the cow and it was thus lifted up and lowered into the ship's hold. This happened to many other animals as well. After all were loaded on board, the ‘tjalk’ left to go across the 'Wadden Zee' to deliver the cattle somewhere on the Frisian coast."

Herman and Hinne walked back via Midsland (a beautiful village near the island's center) to meet someone at a hotel and pick up the money for the cow. Hinne related how they walked, in brilliant sunshine, along the paths through the polder, enjoying the animals and birds and vistas, a veritable feast for the eyes.

Wrote Hinne:" A few weeks later, Jan Tjebbes-Wulp, a farmer we knew well, had to deliver a horse to that same spot on the dike. That horse, too, was placed in a harness, lifted up and lowered into the hold. But something went wrong inside the ship. The horse got scared and ended up lying down crosswise. Struggling to get on its legs, it hit its head hard on the bottom of the ship's walkway, whereupon it dropped dead due to brain damage. How sad that was! Using the same harness, the dead horse was lifted out of the ship and taken to the butcher."