They look suicidally dreary.
So much so, that people try to cheer them up a bit now and then.
The courage of despair is the last courage lost.
When I was younger, there was the so-called 'schillenboer', a waste food collector, who would come every two or three days to collect the potato peels, stale loaves, etc.
Our 'schillenboer' was always singing or whistling. And he would ring a copper bell for people to come out and offer their waste.
