Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1908-07-15
AMONG TIE DUTCH AND wINDnILLs
General Rogers Finds Much Of Interest
in that Land Of Peace.


I Bf 4. M. ROGERS
Leaving Brussels and travelling to-
wards the Netherlands, we pass through
well cultivated county. The eieva-
tion is near sea level; villages are fire.
quent and dairy seems to be much in
evidence. Antwerp is city of much
commercial Importance and large mar
atime trade with the world. Centuries
ago single masted schooners coasted,
| followed by sailing vessels that navi-
gated the globe, then came the steam
ships, and now twin screw liner vessels,
modern in all things and carrying the
American flag, runs weekly 20 New
York. antwerp is sixty miles up the
Scheldt river from the North Sea, and
it was great pleasure to see the Stars
and Stripes in the place of honor on a
modern ship, navigating without sub
sidy, in opposition to English, French,
German, Dutch and Italian subsidized
vessels. Again we are informed this is
an old Roman foGSdation and | wonder
where Rome ends. We go to the old
cathedral, a XIII century building at an
hour when the good people, mostly wo-
men, were assembling for morning wor-
ship. The large organ with its many
thousand pipes was in pleasing tune,
the choir in good voice, and we rested
i'm the enjoyment of a fine concert of
sacred music The pulpit, carved by
hand, is one of the things of interest to
be seen. Ruben's masterpieces, The
Descent from the Cross, Elevation of
the Cross, Assumption md Resurrection
are here.
Journeying on we enter the museum
TO see old Netherland. We walk
through the art gallery to see more of
Dutch school of paintings, more from
Van Dyke, Rubens, and Rembrant, who
must have kept their brushes ir paint
many years. We see the old s.y'e of
buildings giving away to the more
modern.
Not far from Antwerp till We enter
Holland, the lowlands. For ages the
Rhine, Waal and Mass rivers brought
from the up country slime, mud and
silt, forming delta; washed by tidal
waves and inundated by tides. From
this overflow, fifteen centuries ago a
hardy people commenced to recla i'm
land for homes, which has grown into one
of the most stupenduous undertakings
of reclamation from the sea ever under
taken by mankind. The soil has all the
rich elements for the growth of grain.
Holland has one-third of the square
miles of Wisconsin, one-third of that
water, and has a population of three
times that of Wisconsin. Besides this
Holland is the owner of outlying pos
sessions, Java, Sumatra, Borneo all add
to her wealth and contain population
quite one-half of the people in the
/ United States at the census taking of
1900, and governed peacefully from The
Hague.
The sea was told TO stand back when
engineers applied science of sea wall.
ing. The rivers were dyked am held
In their channels; canals and bitches
were dug and the soil spread over the
land Windmills We're put to work, the
J wind blew, tbs Old wheels revolved and
pumped water from ditch to canal,
from canal to river, food gates were
! placed to keep back the sea, and are
opened in the ebb tide. Under these
conditions a vigorous, God fearing, lib
! erty loving people sprung up with a
country offering freedom from the re-
ligious persecution, and equal rights to
all before the law.
We step on the platform at a splen-
did station, well elevated, and are in
the old Dutch town of Rotterdam. This
is city as old as the fifth century. Its
ways are canals, and much to interest
the inquiring mind. Canals and cleo
trio cars run TO tire country, while
ocean vessels go down to sea by the
riVer Waal. We visit Dutch Reform
church, morning service, and listen 70
music by an organ which rolled out vol
umns of tones from 800 pipes. We
go to the gallery TO see more of the
Dutch school, more of Van Dyke and
Rembrant, Salvador Rosa and some
Titan. Then we go to the museum,
where is seen the Dutch style of life
, many centuries in the past, when 1t
! was q walled city. The fish market is
visited in the early morning to note
what the river and sea yield for food.
Here is bronze statue of Erasmus,
head of the literary world in his day,
who by issuing his Latin New Testa-
ment, prepared Europe for the Reform
alton, says a chronicler. Erasmus was
born in Rotterdam, which is their pride.
Taking the canal line, make a short
run to Scheidam, celebrated for the
manufacture of Schnapps. This city
of 80, 600 population has two hundred
thirty-four distilleries manufacturing a
I, wonderful blood purifying, rheumatism
[ curing, relieving pains in the back and
] head, gin fifty years ago favorite
. tonic at Liberty Pole and country stores.
j We next slow up at Delft Haven, of no
: notoriety, no Roman foundation, no
. Van Dyke or Rembrant paintings, but
claims to have given an asylum to the
{ prosecuted. From this place the Puri-
! tans sailed down the Schieldt, and onto
the ocean, to find place where they
1 could worship God as their own con-
science dictated Notwithstanding their
going down to sea to ride in storms, to
be tossed by waves, ever trusting in the
Creator of the ocean, they had read
what a French philosopher had written:
at is a principal of religion what is
, per secuted becomes itself prosecuting. =
The truth of that saying was soon yisi-
BILE in the hanging of witches, Danish
ing of Roger Williams and the many
sumptuary laws against which they had
protested; then crossed the ocean to
escape that which they established
persecution. Delft was once noted for
It's wares; but that glory has departed
and found lodgment in France.
CONCLUDED Next WEED