Title: The Mentor: Holland, v. 2, Num. 6, Serial No. 58 - May 1, 1914
Author: Elmendorf, Dwight
Language: English
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  LEARN ONE THING
  EVERY DAY


  MAY 1 1914

  SERIAL No. 58


  THE
  MENTOR


  HOLLAND


  By DWIGHT L. ELMENDORF
  Lecturer and Traveler


  DEPARTMENT OF
  TRAVEL


  VOLUME 2
  NUMBER 6


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[Illustration: MONTALBANS TOWER, AMSTERDAM]



_HOLLAND_

_The History of Holland_

ONE


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. Yet there took place in this
little country, formed principally of the mud deposited by three rivers,
the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Schelde, some of the most important deeds
in the history of the world.

The earliest inhabitants of this part of Europe are said to have been
some of the barbarians that accompanied the Cimbri and Teutons in their
expedition against Italy. The Romans, however, held sway over this
district until near the end of the fourth century, when the Franks took
possession and settled there. Later the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne
extended his supremacy over the whole of the Netherlands, and under his
successors a system of dividing the land among the vassal princes
gradually developed. Thus the feudal system grew up.

The situation of the country on the ocean and the mouths of three great
rivers invited the people to commerce. Then, also, the big cities grew
up and surrounded themselves with strong forts.

In 1477 the Netherlands came into possession of the House of Hapsburg by
the marriage of Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold, with
Maximilian, afterward emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. 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.

It was in 1579 that the Union of Utrecht laid the foundation on which
the republic of the United Netherlands was to be raised. By the Peace of
Westphalia in 1648 the independence of the United Provinces was
recognized.

The prosperity of Holland was great. Its navigators explored the most
distant coasts in the world, and its trading posts in East India yielded
a rich harvest. It had commerce with all nations, and at the same time
its art reached its highest point of excellence.

For many years the fortunes of the Netherlands varied from good to bad.
In 1795 the French Republicans took possession of the country and
founded the Batavian republic. 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. Ten years later, William
I abdicated in favor of his son William II, who was in turn succeeded by
William III.

His daughter Wilhelmina is the present ruler of Holland. Her daughter,
Princess Juliana, was born April 30, 1909.


  PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
  ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2. No 6. SERIAL No. 58
  COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

[Illustration: VEEN KADE, THE HAGUE]



_HOLLAND_

_William the Silent_

TWO


William the Silent is to Holland what George Washington is to the United
States. As the principal opponent of Philip II of Spain he was the very
incarnation of the national spirit in the greatest period of Dutch
history. He dared to stand forth as the fearless leader of a persecuted
people in opposition to the mightiest monarch then on earth. William,
Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau, was surnamed “The Silent” not
because he was gloomy, but because he was able to hide his plans with
wonderful discretion. He was born on April 16, 1533. He was a great
favorite of Charles V of Spain, who appointed him, when he was only
twenty-two years old, governor of the provinces of Holland, Zealand, and
Utrecht. When the Low Countries came into possession of the Duke of
Alva, the Spanish governor, William set out on a short but useless
campaign to liberate the southern provinces. Four years later he was
invited by Holland and Zealand to command their troops against the
Spaniards. Shortly afterward he captured Middelburg and succeeded in
raising the siege of Leyden. The Union of Utrecht, the famous defensive
league of the North Netherlands, was formed in 1579. Soon afterward
William was exiled by Philip II; but the States General defied his
authority, and in 1581 formally threw off their allegiance to the
Spanish crown.

However, so anxious was Philip to have William out of the way that he
offered a reward of 25,000 crowns and a title of nobility to anyone who
would assassinate him. Many were the cowardly attacks made against the
brave Dutchman, eight attempts being made before the one that finally
succeeded.

On July 10, 1584, William, in company with his beautiful young wife, was
coming to dinner down the stairway of the Prinsenhof--his house in
Delft. Suddenly from the corner of the corridor a man stepped forth
holding a petition. The prince asked him to present it later when he was
not busy. During the meal William was as usual very cheerful; but his
wife seemed to have a premonition of danger. She spoke to him several
times of the strange man they had met in the hall, remarking that she
had never seen a more villainous face. This did not disturb William in
the least, and at the close of the meal he led the way back along the
corridor. As he approached the staircase, without a moment’s warning the
assassin sprang forth and shot him in the breast. The prince reeled
backward a few steps and fell into the arms of his wife. A few minutes
later the founder of Dutch liberty had passed into history.

William the Silent was the foremost statesman of his time. He gave up
great position, vast wealth, and at last his life, to rescue the
Netherlands from the tyrannical power of Spain; and he had the
satisfaction of knowing before he died that the cause for which he had
suffered so much would succeed.

His murderer, Balthazar Gerard, was executed by having the flesh torn
from his body with redhot pincers.

[Illustration: STREET SCENE, AMSTERDAM]



_HOLLAND_

_Amsterdam_

THREE


Amsterdam has often been called “The Venice of the North.” Between the
two cities there is a resemblance; but they also differ from each other
essentially. Venice is golden; while Amsterdam is gray. Venice inspires
romantic memories and poetical associations; Amsterdam, even with its
many attractions, is distinctly practical and commercial.

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. It has
miles of liquid streets, which are spanned by three hundred bridges. 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. From then on he is independent, and master of his own
floating house, stable, farmyard, and express wagon. He transports loads
of merchandise from town to town, and is in a small way even a farmer.
When he moors his boat to take his wares from house to house he uses a
cart, and to draw this cart he employs dogs. When the merchandise is
sold the driver calmly seats himself in the cart and makes his patient
animals pull him home. If he does not own a dog, he merely puts the yoke
upon the shoulders of his wife, and she acts as a willing steed.

The little houses in the vicinity of Amsterdam are thoroughly
characteristic of Holland. They have sharply pointed roofs of pretty red
tiles, neatly painted walls and blinds, and a monstrous windmill on one
side. Within they are scoured and polished so that they almost shine
with cleanliness. Even among the wealthy citizens of Amsterdam there is
not much display of luxury. The houses are quite plain, but always
brightly clean.

To most people who are used to paved streets and plenty of dry land it
would not be pleasant to dwell among the watery streets with their
narrow sidewalks of Amsterdam; but to a Dutchman it is impossible to
have too much water about his house. Even with a canal in front and
another on each side he will add, if possible, an artificial pond in his
small garden.

[Illustration: STREET SCENE, ROTTERDAM]



_HOLLAND_

_Rotterdam_

FOUR


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.

Rotterdam received its first municipal privileges in 1340. Its modern
prosperity dates from the separation of Belgium from the kingdom of the
Netherlands. The largest seagoing ships can now be admitted to the quays
of the town. Great cargoes of oil, grain, coffee, tobacco, and coal pass
through it, and its cattle market is the most important in Holland.

It is a remarkable fact that in Rotterdam almost every man one meets has
either a cigar or a pipe in his mouth. The Dutch are great smokers. It
is said that the boatmen measure distances not by miles, but by
pipefuls. Many of the natives are believed to sleep at night with their
pipes between their teeth, so that they may have their morning smoke
without any delay. The Hollanders call tobacco smoke their second
breath, and a cigar the sixth finger of their hands.

In Rotterdam is situated the home of the greatest smoker that the world
has ever known, Meinheer Van Klaes. His average consumption was one
hundred and fifty grams of tobacco a day. Nevertheless he lived to be
ninety-eight years old. His directions as to how his funeral should be
conducted are interesting: “I wish that all my friends who are smokers
shall be specially invited to my funeral. Each of them shall receive a
package of tobacco and two pipes, and they are requested to smoke
uninterruptedly during the funeral ceremonies. My body shall be inclosed
in a coffin lined with wood of my old cigar boxes. Beside me in the
casket shall be laid my favorite meerschaum, a box of matches, and a
package of tobacco. When my body is lowered into the grave every person
present is requested to pass by and cast upon it the ashes from his
pipe.”

It is said that these requests were faithfully complied with. There is
also a report which says that at his funeral the smoke was so dense that
a horn had to be blown to enable the mourners to find the door.

Rotterdam suffered from a great fire in 1563, and also underwent great
loss during the struggle with the Spaniards who occupied the city in
1572. Since 1573, however, its progress has been remarkable.

[Illustration: SCENE IN HAARLEM]



_HOLLAND_

_Tulips and Windmills_

FIVE


Spring is the best time to visit Haarlem in Holland. The traveler to
this city passes through wonderful fields covered with broad sheets of
scarlet, white, and yellow tulips. It is a sight never to be forgotten.
But, beautiful as the tulips are, it is not for this that the Hollanders
grow them in such quantities. They grow the bulb not for the flower but
for the “onion,” as it is called.

The cultivation of tulips is a great business in Holland; but today only
a small percentage of the population commercialize the flower, compared
to the number that cultivated it in the seventeenth century. The
tulipomania of that time was really a form of gambling, in which
admiration of the flower and interest in its culture were secondary
matters. In those days thousands of florins were paid for a single bulb.

Tulips grow wild along the northern shores of the Mediterranean, and in
Africa and the Far East. They were introduced into the Low Countries in
the sixteenth century from Constantinople and the Levant. Owing to their
great beauty the flowers became immediate favorites in European gardens.
It was in 1637 that the extraordinary tulipomania first took possession
of the Dutch. Not only were flower merchants seized with it, but almost
every citizen took up tulip growing. A single bulb called the “Semper
Augustus” was sold for thirteen thousand florins, and for another of the
same variety was traded “a new carriage, a pair of gray horses, and
forty-six hundred guilders.” A prize of one hundred thousand florins
offered by the horticultural society at Haarlem was won by the black
tulip of Cornelius van Baerle. But when the government stepped in and
enforced a law against gambling the price of tulips fell to nothing. The
bubble burst, and thousands of dealers were beggared in a single night.

There is an old Dutch proverb which says, “God made the sea; but we make
the shore.” For hundreds of years the Hollanders have proved this true
by literally making the land upon which they live. 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. By
draining whole marshes they have transformed this waste land into
beautiful green and fertile fields. In passing from The Hague to Haarlem
on the train one can see the largest of these “polders,” as the drained
marshes are called.

Windmills were used as early as the twelfth century. In all the older
windmills a shaft called the wind shaft carried four to six arms or
whips, on which long, narrow sails were spread. The tips of the sails
made a circle of sixty to eighty feet in diameter. It is this type of
windmill, with its long arms waving above the landscape, that is
associated so closely with Holland.

[Illustration: RYKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM]



_HOLLAND_

_Art in Holland_

SIX


Many people consider Dutch art the most interesting in the world. The
artists of Holland did not portray classic gods and prayerful madonnas.
They were too practical and matter-of-fact for that. Their minds were
serious, and scenes of everyday life attracted them more than they did
the artists of Italy or Spain. Portrait painting began very early among
the Dutch. This was because the Dutch spirit was essentially commercial.
The prosperous burghers liked to have great artists paint them, and they
were usually willing to pay pretty well for the privilege. Also the
nobility, due to their love of splendor, gave abundant employment to the
artists.

Some of the earlier Dutch artists who achieved fame are the brothers Van
Eyck, Hugo van der Goes, Roger van der Weyden, and Quentin Massys. But
greater than any of these is Frans Hals, who was born in 1580. 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. But he died at the age of sixty-two,
alone and neglected.

Paul Potter, called the “Raphael of animal painters,” was born in 1625,
and died from overwork at the age of twenty-nine. It is said that he
painted portraits of animals, and tried to know the character of every
beast that he drew.

Jan Steen painted all sorts of subjects,--chemists in their
laboratories, card parties, marriage feasts, religious subjects, and
especially children. Besides being a successful artist, he was a brewer
at Delft. He failed in this business and opened a tavern. Hence he has
often been called “the jolly landlord of Leyden.”

Pieter de Hooch was the most neglected of all Dutch painters; yet in
1876 the Berlin Museum paid $26,000 for one of his paintings. He was
born in Rotterdam about 1630, and became one of the most charming
painters of homely subjects that Holland has produced. He died at
Haarlem about 1681.

Meyndert Hobbema was born in Amsterdam about 1638, and was buried there
in a pauper’s grave in 1709. Although today he is considered one of the
great landscape painters of Holland, his work was not appreciated during
his lifetime. Hobbema liked to paint only landscapes. It is said that
when it was necessary for him to get a figure in a picture he had
another artist do it.

All these men were great artists of Holland. And it is a peculiar thing
that most of them lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Since then Holland has done comparatively little in art.

[Illustration: The Mint Tower, Amsterdam]



  HOLLAND


  By DWIGHT L. ELMENDORF

  _Lecturer and Traveler_


  THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL · MAY 1, 1914


  MENTOR GRAVURES

  THE RYKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
  VEEN KADE, THE HAGUE
  STREET SCENE, ROTTERDAM
  STREET SCENE, AMSTERDAM
  MONTALBANS TOWER, AMSTERDAM
  SCENE IN HAARLEM


Holland has been described as a “country of unpainted pictures.” 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. This is especially true of Amsterdam, which, viewed from
above, appears to be a network of canals. These canals are an attractive
feature of the cities. In some cases the whole street is canal; in other
cases the street is both “wet and dry”--a canal flanked by a street.

[Illustration: Copyright, American Press Association

“THE HOUSE IN THE WOOD,” THE HAGUE

This is Queen Wilhelmina’s favorite place of residence. It is located in
the forest park about one and a half miles from The Hague, and was the
meeting place of the first International Peace Conference, held in 1899]

Imagine a country, in some spots lower than the sea, maintaining its
existence only by constant vigilance and industry, fighting for its very
life through the changing seasons against the one great enemy, water.
The dunes or sand hills which line the coast serve as a barrier against
the sea. These are reinforced by coarse grass, which holds the sand
together. In some places the dikes are made of earth, sand, and clay,
held together by willows, which are carefully planted so as to form a
binder. In other places dikes are built of stone. The dikes are the
fortifications against the inroads of the ocean, and also the floods in
the rivers that flow through Holland to the sea.

[Illustration: Copyright, American Press Association

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, THE HAGUE

With the Queen’s Fish Pond in the foreground]

When there are heavy rains in Germany the Rhine brings down a great
additional volume of water, which has to be checked by the dikes and led
away by the canals. 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. As a result they are now not only holding their
water enemy in check, but they have actually advanced upon the sea, and
have taken from it sufficient territory to add materially to their
cultivated lands. But the contest with the rivers and the sea has to be
constant. 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; and the ever-faithful windmill, when not
otherwise engaged, is employed to pump the water from the lowlands.


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; Zaandam (zahn-dahm´), the “dike” of the River Zaan--and so
on. The thought of the protecting dike was generally in mind when a town
was founded. The windmill is not only an untiring servant of industry,
but is a sign of Dutch prosperity as well. You may hear it said of a
Hollander, “He is worth ten millions.” You are quite as likely to hear
it said, “He is worth ten windmills.”

[Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE, AMSTERDAM

The palace, formerly the town hall, was begun in 1648, finished in 1655,
and cost 8,000,000 florins. It rests on a foundation of 13,659 piles,
and its tower is 167 feet high. The weather vane on the tower represents
a merchant vessel, formerly the crest of the city]

It required dogged determination and persevering energy to make the
history of Holland. 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. She has had much to say in the Congress of Nations. One
of her chief cities, The Hague, is identified in everyone’s mind with
one of the most important world movements of modern times,--the
International Peace Conference.

The population of Holland does not exceed 6,000,000, and there are only
four towns having a population exceeding 100,000,--Amsterdam, The
Hague, Rotterdam (rot´-er-dam; Dutch, rot-ter-dahm´), and Utrecht
(u´-trekt; Dutch, oo´-trekt).


AMSTERDAM

This most interesting city is situated where the River Amstel enters the
Zuyder Zee (zy´-der zee; Danish, zoi´-der zay). Just where the city lies
there is an arm of the sea which goes by the odd name of Y or Ij
(pronounced _eye_). Amsterdam is the chief commercial city of Holland;
though in some branches of business Rotterdam disputes its supremacy.
The city is of odd, semicircular shape, and is intersected by canals,
which run in curves like the rows of seats in an amphitheater. Each of
these semicircular canals marks the line of the city walls and moat at
different times. Other canals cross these in such a manner as to cut the
city up into a number of islands. The old part of the city lies in the
very center, inclosed by the inner semicircular canal. At one end of
this canal is the “Weepers’ Tower,” which takes its name from the fact
that it stands at the head of what was the old harbor, and was the
scene, therefore, in ancient times, of many sad leavetakings. There
wives and sweethearts said goodby to the men who went “down to the sea
in ships.”

[Illustration: THE GATE OF THE STADTHOLDER, THE HAGUE]

[Illustration: THE NEW THEATER, AMSTERDAM]

Amsterdam is supposed to have originated about 1204, when Gysbrecht II,
Lord of Amstel, built a castle there. It came to be really important
about the end of the sixteenth century, when the wars with Spain had
ruined Antwerp, and many merchants, manufacturers, and artists left
there and settled in Amsterdam. The population of the city today is
close to 600,000, and it is one of the busiest markets in Europe, doing
a large business in imports, especially in the products of the Dutch
colonies.

[Illustration: Copyright, American Press Association

PALACE OF PEACE, THE HAGUE]

The city, moreover, is very beautiful. 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.


A CITY BUILT ON PILES

The costumes, while not so picturesque as those to be found in the
country districts, are interesting to the traveler from other lands. The
houses are built on piles driven into the soft soil--a fact that the
witty old Erasmus of Rotterdam turned to jest by saying that he knew a
city whose inhabitants dwelt in the tops of trees like rooks.

There are so many things in Amsterdam of historic, literary, and art
interest that no one can expect to “do the city” and do it thoroughly in
the brief time usually allotted by the ordinary tourist. For the student
of art there is enough to fill a month’s time. The home city of
Rembrandt naturally holds the interest of an artist, and the Ryks Museum
contains a wonderful collection of Dutch art and Historic relics.

[Illustration: Copyright, American Press Association

THE RIDDERZAAL, THE HAGUE

The old Ridderzaal on the Brennenhof is the ancient castle of the counts
of Holland. The most modern improvements, such as electricity and
telephones, have been installed in this ancient structure. The grand
assembly hall seats two hundred and eighty, and is lighted by eight
immense chandeliers of antique style, containing fifty-four lights
each]


RYKS MUSEUM

This museum is an impressive stone and brick building, constructed in
1877-1885, and filling nearly three acres of ground. It holds a place
among the greatest museums of the world, and in its devotion to its own
particular subject--Dutch art and history--it is unique. It is not the
lover of art alone who will find the place fascinating: the historian
will be held by the military, naval, and colonial collection; the
antiquarian will linger over the old works in gold and silver, the
models of ships of different periods, antique books and furniture,
textiles and stained glass; while the artist will regard the picture
galleries as a treasure house.

For the artist, if interested in the Dutch masters of art, the museum is
the one particular place in Europe. There about him he will find some of
the most celebrated works of Rembrandt, Franz Hals, Paul Potter, Jan
Steen (stane), Hobbema (hob´-be-mah), and other Dutch painters.

The picturesque old buildings of Amsterdam, especially those in the
inner city, will delight the visitor. Many of these have great historic
interest--notable among them Admiral de Ruyter’s (ry´-ter; Dutch,
roi´-ter) house, bearing his portrait in relief on its front, and a
little beyond that the old Montalbans Tower.

[Illustration: Copyright, Underwood & Underwood

A STREET IN AMSTERDAM]

The Royal Palace is a solid building which was begun in 1648, just after
the Peace of Westphalia, and was finished in the course of seven years
at a cost of 8,000,000 florins ($3,216,000). It is not a beautiful
building; but in its structure and its inner equipments it is
interesting as showing the character of Dutch life and government. You
bring from a visit to the palace an impression of the solidity, power,
and the enduring virtues that are the ancestral inheritance of the
Hollander.

No visit to Amsterdam is complete without a sight of the Zoölogical
Garden, which is one of the best in Europe, and a trip out to the unique
little Island of Marken. There in that odd spot you will find all the
picturesqueness of Holland in solid deposit. Gaily colored costumes are
everywhere; houses are queer in structure and in furnishing; and manners
and habits of life are peculiar and interesting. But let the visitor be
cautious in Marken. It has of recent years come to be a show place,
stocked with all sorts of Dutch articles of no special value, most of
which are manufactured solely to catch the fancy of the unwary tourist.


HAARLEM

On returning from Marken the traveler will find it worth his while to
run west to the quaint old town of Haarlem (hahr´-lem). This is the city
of the governor of the province of North Holland, and is one of the
cleanest and neatest towns in the Netherlands. Its population is
something over 70,000, and it has the appearance of prosperity and
welfare. During the Middle Ages, Haarlem was the residence of the counts
of Holland, and was the scene of several important military engagements
between the Dutch and the Spaniards. It is famous for its horticulture,
and furnishes bulbs to every country in Europe and North America. Along
about the middle of spring a wonderful sight may be seen in the lands
surrounding Haarlem. Whole fields of hyacinths, crocuses, anemones,
tulips, lilies, etc., offer a brilliant variety of color and fill the
air with delicious perfume. It is a feast for the senses indeed!

[Illustration: Copyright, American Press Association

SAINT NICHOLAS CHURCH, AMSTERDAM]


ROTTERDAM

Situated about thirty miles south of Amsterdam and Haarlem is Rotterdam,
the second largest town in the Netherlands, which has a population of
about 370,000. To some it is known chiefly as the home of the
illustrious Erasmus, who was born there in 1465. 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.

[Illustration: 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.
Down at the large docks you will find busy scenes; at the Wilhelmina
Kade especially, where the great passenger steamers lie. You will meet
that name _Kade_ wherever you go in the towns of Holland. It means quay,
and the different thoroughfares distinguished by the name are either
quays or else have been quays in times past, and in the course of the
city’s growth have become streets with waterways in them.

You will be impressed with the vast multitude of bridges in Rotterdam. I
do not know that they actually exceed in number the bridges of
Amsterdam; but they appear to, for many can be seen from almost every
point of view. The service of the canal to Holland is manifold, and this
is true in winter as well as in summer. Over the frozen surface of the
canal children skate to school, women skate to their shopping, and those
who have time for recreation skim the icy surfaces from town to town in
skating trips.


THE HAGUE

There are many towns in Holland to invite the traveler, and most of them
will delight him as well. This is especially true of Utrecht, Dordrecht,
and Delft, the last famous the world over for its pottery. It is well,
however, when making a visit to Holland, to save The Hague until the
last.

The Hague is the political capital of Holland, and in some ways the most
beautiful and interesting of all Dutch cities. It is a most cosmopolitan
town, and its population includes many distinguished people. Among the
cities of Holland, The Hague leads in culture and refinement, as
Amsterdam and Rotterdam do in commerce. It is, moreover, the most
attractive city. In neatness and in cleanliness it is claimed that The
Hague cannot be excelled by any city in the world. You are willing to
believe that when you are there.


THE HOUSE IN THE WOOD

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. The life there is
distinguished for its gaiety, and the society for its distinction. Great
interest naturally centers in “The House in the Wood,” a most
picturesque château erected in 1645 for Princess Amalia, consort of
Prince Frederick Henry, son of Henry the Silent. This is the favorite
home of royalty. The most interesting apartment in the palace is the
Orange Room, which was prepared by the princess as a memorial to her
husband, and has been the scene of many important diplomatic and social
events. The first International Peace Conference, at which twenty-six
powers were represented, met in this room in the summer of 1899. The
House in the Wood is beautifully furnished and decorated, and, more than
the usual royal residence, it realizes the meaning of the word “home.”

[Illustration: GROOTE KERK, DORDRECHT

This church dates from the fourteenth century. Its tower is two hundred
and thirty feet high]


ATTRACTIONS OF THE HAGUE

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. The quaint old Hall of the Knights
will attract attention for its historic interest, and so will the
beautiful and imposing national monument, which was set up in 1869 to
commemorate the restoration of Dutch independence and to honor Prince
William Frederick of Orange.

Altogether The Hague is a delight to the traveler. Thackeray exclaimed
over it, “The brightest little brick city, with the pleasantest park to
ride in, the neatest, comfortable people walking about, the canals not
unsweet, and busy and picturesque with life!”

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, UTRECHT

The cathedral was erected in 1254-67. At the time it was one of the
finest and largest churches in Holland]


SCHEVENINGEN

[Illustration: ON THE BEACH, SCHEVENINGEN]

It might be Brighton or Margate, and, except for the swarm of hooded
beach chairs, it might be Coney Island, this popular seaside resort of
Holland. Most of the features familiar to those who frequent the sea
coast resorts of other lands are to be found at Scheveningen. 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. The pleasure of playing on the seashore is
much the same wherever humanity is found, and no matter what the
locality may be the pleasure in all places finds pretty much the same
forms of expression.

Scheveningen (shay´-ven-ing-en) began its life as a fishing village away
back in 1400. It is situated about three miles from The Hague, and has
been a bathing resort since 1815, growing in popularity and population
until now the annual number of visitors is about 40,000, chiefly Dutch
and German, but including also many Britons and Americans. The season
runs from the first of June to the end of September, and, just as in the
case of other summer resorts, its activities are at their height about
the first of August.

Aside from its many attractions as a summer resort, Scheveningen has
some historic interest. It was from there that Charles II set sail when
he returned to England to assume the crown at the time of the
Restoration. This was in 1660. Thirteen years later that sturdy naval
hero Admiral de Ruyter engaged in a sea battle off Scheveningen, and
there defeated the combined forces of France and England.


DUTCH COUNTRY LIFE AND PEOPLE

For those who would know Holland and the people, no trip would be
complete that merely included a few of the prominent cities. Take your
pack if you care for tramping, or engage a car if you prefer to ride:
you will find the roads good. Then go through the country and meet the
people in their simplest condition. The Dutch farmer has not changed in
several hundred years. He is a thrifty, contented individual, and his
life will interest you. You will find the country families hospitable,
and you will learn much from them that the city Hollanders have not told
you. As you go through the farm districts you will be impressed with the
varied color and the picturesque qualities of everything. And though you
may not be an artist you must, in the course of a sojourn in Holland,
feel the stir of art consciousness.

Aptly indeed has Holland been called “a land of untouched pictures.”



SUPPLEMENTARY READING


    THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC

    _J. L. Motley._


    HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

    _J. L. Motley._

    Two justly famous and comprehensive historical works.


    MOTLEY’S DUTCH NATION

    _W. E. Griffis._

    A condensation of Motley’s works brought down to 1908.


    DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY

    _P. M. Hough._

    A well written and authoritative book.


    THE AMERICAN IN HOLLAND

    _W. E. Griffis._

    A book that cannot fail to interest.


    HOLLAND

    _George Wharton Edwards._

    A book delightfully written, and artistically illustrated by a well
    known painter.



_THE OPEN LETTER_


The travel impressions of an artist are always interesting. Mr. George
Wharton Edwards in his book, “Holland of Today,” presents with brush and
pencil a vivid and attractive picture of life and natural conditions in
the Netherlands:

       *       *       *       *       *

“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. But with this is mingled a most decided aspect of novelty. Here
the fields are cultivated with the care of suburban market gardens, and
are separated by long V-shaped ditches, through which the water runs
sluggishly some feet below the surface of the ground. 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.

       *       *       *       *       *

“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. It is generally a long and
rather narrow boat, low in the water, and usually painted green and
white, with a low-roofed deck cabin divided into two compartments
running the entire length, with clean board seats, and tiny
lace-curtained windows, the floor scrubbed with sand until it is almost
as white as snow. The roof is covered with a mixture of sand and
pulverized shells, on a foundation of bitumen to hold it. It is most
delightful to sail or be pulled along by ‘boy power’ through the country
between the ‘pollarded green banks’ and look upon the changing landscape
and the brown-armed mills in legions engaged in battle against the water
enemy.

       *       *       *       *       *

“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. Save in the Island of Urk in the
Züyder Zee there is not a stone to be found anywhere. Yet artificial
mountains (almost) have been brought in vessels from Sweden and Norway
and in masterful and ingenious manner erected as barriers against the
sea.”

       *       *       *       *       *

Concerning the people of Holland, Mr. Edwards has this to say: “The
superficial observer will perhaps find that the people move more slowly
and deliberately than his standard demands; that there are not enough of
the quaint costumes, of which he has read so much, to be seen in the
large centers, to satisfy his sense of the picturesque; but for him
whose eyes are open to the glory of attainment and the greatness of art,
whose mind is attuned to effects of environment upon the development of
character, who can appreciate the brave and successful attempts of a
people grown out of the very soil to ameliorate sorrow, poverty, and
suffering, and who have succeeded in spite of adverse conditions and
climate in establishing an almost ideal form of civilization and
government, I say no land has so much to offer as little Holland. As the
poet says:

    “‘What land is this that seems to be
    A mingling of the land and sea?
    This land of sluices, dykes, and dunes?
    This water-net that tesselates
    The landscape? This unending maze
    Of gardens, through whose latticed gates
    The imprisoned pinks and tulips gaze;
    Where in long summer afternoons
    The sunshine, softened by the haze,
    Comes streaming down as through a screen
    Where over fields and pastures green
    The painted ships float high in air,
    And over all and everywhere
    The sails of windmills sink and soar,
    Like wings of sea-gulls on the shore?’”



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    TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

    The spelling of the original work has been retained.

    Section Amsterdam, pronunciation of Zuyder Zee: Danish should
    probably be Dutch.

    The poem at the end of the Open Letter is part of Longfellow’s
    Kéramos.

    Following are the correct spellings of the Dutch names given by the
    authors:
    Brennenhof: Binnenhof
    Ryks Museum: Rijksmuseum
    Ryks: Rijks
    Harmanzoon: Harmenszoon
    Veen Kade: Veenkade
    Montalbans Tower: Montelbaans
    Zuyder Zee, Züyder Zee: Zuiderzee
    Meinheer: Mijnheer
    Zealand: Zeeland
    Franz Hals: Frans Hals
    Y, Ij: IJ (occasioanlly Y)
    ’s Graven Hage: ’s Gravenhage.





*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Mentor: Holland, v. 2, Num. 6, Serial No. 58 - May 1, 1914" ***

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