Dwight L. Elmendorf

“ The history of Holland is a record of the unexpected. One might think that this flat country would have a story as monotonous as the land on which it is built, that it would be the last part of the world to be the center of fierce battles and bloody wars. ”

“ Rotterdam, the famous commercial center of Holland, lies fourteen miles from the North Sea at the union of two rivers, one of which is called the Rotte, and with the great dam erected on its banks gives to the town its name. To a visitor the most notable feature of this great Dutch city is its multitude of bridges, most of which are drawbridges, continually rising and falling like parts of a huge machine. ”

“ The Dutch people successfully resisted Spanish domination at a time when Spain was a supreme world power, and then they built up a government of their own in a country where they had to fight for the very existence of the land. In government administration, in thrift and commercial enterprise, in exploration and colonization, in literature, and in arts, Holland has proved herself to be a wonderful little country. ”

“ There is the wide, gradually shelving beach, ceaselessly washed by the rolling surf, crowded with people of all ages and stations, bobbing in the water, frolicking on the beach, or sedately seated in the shaded chairs. Back on the beach runs the long line of hotels and cottages that we find at all great ocean resorts. ”

“ In the great marketplace of Rotterdam there stands a fine bronze statue of Erasmus.
To merchants Rotterdam is known as one of the busiest import cities on the Continent; as in its import trade it is exceeded only by Hamburg and Antwerp, while its cattle market is the most important in Holland. There is much life in Rotterdam, and plenty of entertainment to enliven the visitor who goes there for other purposes than those of trade.
THE POSTOFFICE, ROTTERDAM
Boyman’s Museum contains a most valuable collection of Dutch art, and the churches, parks, and public ways are attractive and interesting. ”

“ DIKES AND WINDMILLS
The dikes and the windmills are the two great factors of physical and commercial life in Holland. The dike safeguards the land; the windmill fans the currents of trade. Whether corn is to be ground, timber sawed, tobacco cut, paper manufactured, or water pumped, the long arms of the mill perform a willing and efficient service while the wind blows. The importance of the dike is reflected in the names of many Dutch towns. The word dam or dike is to be found almost everywhere. Amsterdam is the “dike” of the River Amstel (ahm ́-stel) ; Rotterdam, the “dike” of the River Rotte ”

“ That is the artist’s point of view; for his eye takes in the picturesque possibilities of the subject. To us it seems as if Holland is of all countries the one most often seen in pictures. While, no doubt, there are many “untouched pictures” in the miles of level Dutch landscape, art has surely shown a generous recognition of Holland’s attractive scenery, and has celebrated its picturesqueness to all the rest of the world. Holland is a country of dikes and level meadow lands, of windmills and canals. From the point of view of an aëronaut the Dutch cities look like a map of Mars. ”

“ Their son, Philip the Handsome, was the father of Charles V, who subsequently became King of Spain. Under his rule the Netherlands enjoyed a golden era of prosperity; but during the reign of his bigoted son, Philip II, there began that apparently hopeless struggle of the weak people of the north against the haughty Spaniards, which lasted for eighty years and which ended in the establishment of the powerful Dutch republic. The great founder of Dutch liberty was William of Nassau, the Silent. Today he is revered by the Dutch as a mighty hero and martyr. ”

“ Amsterdam is a seaport in the province of North Holland. It is one of the chief commercial cities in Europe and the largest city in the kingdom of Holland. It is one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
Amsterdam stands on flat, marshy ground into which piles fifty feet long are driven to form the foundations of brick houses, which are usually six or seven stories high. The form of the city is a crescent, and the arms of its canals project into the Y.
Amsterdam is really a city founded upon islands, ninety in all. ”

“ The full Dutch name of this city of royalty is ’s Graven Hage (’s grah ́-fen hah ́-ge) , which means “the count’s inclosure.” The name was given to it originally when it was a richly wooded plain and a hunting resort of the counts of Holland. It is now the residence of the queen of Holland and the seat of government, where most of the important national transactions of the last three hundred years have taken place. There is no great amount of business at The Hague. It is a place of important political affairs and of social life and enjoyment. ”

“ In 1806 Louis Bonaparte was created king of Holland by his brother Napoleon. Four years later Napoleon annexed Holland to France, giving as the reason his belief that it was formed of the alluvial deposit of French rivers. At last, in November, 1813, the French were expelled from Holland; and in 1815, by the Congress of Vienna, the southern or Belgian province of the Netherlands was united with the northern into a single kingdom, and the Prince of Orange was created king of the Netherlands under the title of William I. This union was severed by the Belgian revolution of 1830. ”

“ The object of The Mentor Association is to enable people to acquire useful knowledge without effort, so that they may come easily and agreeably to know the world’s great men and women, the great achievements and the permanently interesting things in art, literature, science, history, nature and travel. ”

“ Holland’s fight against water has been a warfare of varying fortunes. At times in the past dikes have been broken, great tracts of land have been inundated, and thousands of people drowned.
The Dutch are a careful, plodding, and industrious people, and they have profited by experience. ”

“ The first impression that the traveler in Holland gets is in one respect similar to that given by the far western prairie regions, and the broad, wind-swept flat country with comparatively few trees, and lying open to the gales of the North Sea, has a little of the same bare aspect. ”

“ The purpose of The Mentor Association is to give its members, in an interesting and attractive way the information in various fields of knowledge which everybody wants and ought to have. The information is imparted by interesting reading matter, prepared under the direction of leading authorities, and by beautiful pictures, reproduced by the most highly perfected modern processes. ”

“ The population of The Hague is more than 240,000, and it has, besides The House in the Wood, a number of notable features. There is the celebrated picture gallery called the Mauritshuis, the Municipal Museum which, next to the Ryks, is the finest in Holland, the Mesdag Museum, which contains among other art treasures a fine collection of pictures by the Barbizon painters, and the Steengracht Gallery, which is rich in modern French and Dutch paintings. ”

“ All through the city float heavy barges, many of which are the homes of citizens.
Among some classes of the Dutch it is customary, when a young man has saved or borrowed enough money, to buy a huge, broad-shouldered boat and install therein not only his entire family, but also his poultry, hogs, and even cows. ”

“ He was a great portrait painter. His marvelous capacity for catching an impression on the instant brought him many patrons. He loved to paint people as they were, and jolly topers and rich burghers were his favorite subjects; but, great artist though he was, he died almost in poverty.
Rembrandt Harmanzoon van Rijn, who was born in 1607, the son of a miller of Leyden, has been called the greatest painter of northern Europe. Today his pictures are beyond price. His influence on the Dutch artists that followed him was very great. ”

“ The passenger boats, once so common in the canals, are fast disappearing; like the diligences, they have been replaced by the system of tram-cars which now cross the country, but here and there this old-fashioned means of communication between the towns and villages still survives, and it is certainly a delightful experience to make a journey on market day in one of these arks. ”

“ Looking across them, one sees broad, brown, velvety-hued sails moving in various directions among the growing crops; the roadway is on an embankment, running high above the land, frequently crossing canals lying far enough below for the brightly painted barges with lowered masts to pass freely, generally without the need of drawbridges. ”

“ They must continually fight against the encroachment of the sea, and a big factor in the work of keeping the ocean out is done by great windmills, which pump the water from the fields into the rivers and canals, and thus drain the land.
Everywhere in Holland windmills can be seen. Besides pumping and draining, they also saw wood and grind corn. Although nowadays steam and gasolene engines can do most of the work formerly performed by windmills, they still form a picturesque part of the Dutch landscape. ”

“ The main canals are lined with avenues of elms, and they offer a picturesque appearance and a pleasant shade. The streets are full of life, and their interest is enhanced by the varied activities of those who walk and ride on the paved roads and others who ply oddly constructed boats through the waterways. ”

“ The very laws of nature have here been reversed, for disregarding the injunction, every house is builded upon the sand, and the whole coast is held together practically by straws. There being little or no wood in the country whole forests have been brought hither in ships and buried as pile foundations for the cities. ”

“ A special body of engineers is appointed to look after the work, and the Dutch government spends annually several million dollars to keep the dikes in order and hold the ground. Water is confined in canals and in large basins ”