Bisbee daily review., 1908-05-06
| AND OF STORK
Is OLD HOLLAND

that is Van Specyk, who went 10 sea
as a naval sailor as an orphan boy and
rose to the rank of admiral, and at
last found a grave in the royal church,
the Pantheon of Holland. II was he
who ended his life in 1881 by blow
| ing up his own ship in a naval battle
rather than see his vessel in the hands
Of an enemy. / do not say it is an act
of bravery for a man to take his own
life, but the blowing up of the ship
shows q kind of daring not seen every
day of the world.
Besides the many others who have
been here crowned, the present queen
Wilhelmena was inaugurated in this
old church in 1889 when she took the
oath to support the constitution of Hol
land and annexed Orange. The peo-
pie love their queen and she deserves
all their love- While in The Hague
1 saw her palace and the people show
ed me with pride the porch where she
appeared often to show herself to the
people Thousands came to the open
square on that day and when the young
queen appears on the porch great
acclaim of praise breaks forth from the
waiting multitude. All the people,
both in Amsterdam and The Hague say
| the newspaper talk about the bad treat
ment of the queen by DER husband,
Prince Henry, is all "bosh," and that
there is nothing in it. There was,
they say, one slight family jar, as hap
pens in many other homes, but now
that hasSpassed away and no such
thing has occurred since.
Now a few words about some pictures
I saw in the museum of art. The first
.one is that of the Dutch fleet return
ing from the voyage to Java IN the
West India Islands, after having been
gone from home six years. Many be-
Heyed the fleet had been lost forever,
others believed they had betrayed their
country, but after six years of hardship
the came one day sailing proudly into
port at Amsterdam. Rubens painted
the picture and / do not wonder that
he made it a master piece, he sure
ly had the inspiration. l thought of
what the boy said to his professor in
school about times having changed:
Professor" he said, "once they had
wooden ships and iron men but now
they have iron ships and. wooden men"
The next portrait is painted by Rem
'brant of an old woman who was The
wife of a Dutch naval officer and is
the finest portrait in the world, worth
now one half million dollars. I bought
a copy of it, for the face is such that
could look on it for hours.
= Another portrait is that of an old
woman saying the blessing over her
meal and in the act of prayer died.
1t is by a Dutch artist, Macs, and a
masterpiece. The guide who showed
It to me was a critic of religion and
said it was better to eat first and then
pray and die. but said in retort thai
it was better to die praying than ours
ing, and then he played "shut-mouth. =
Still another is the heroism of a WON
an. ! had read the Roman history
of IL and longed to see the picture
which Rubens had painted of the sub
ject. 1t is az old man sucking the
breast of a young woman. He was
condemned to die OF starvation in pris-
on and no one permitted to see him
except nis daughter. Leaving her
young baby at home each day, she
visited the prison to see her father;
and as thu guards searched her they
wer ecertain she carried no food, but
for months the old man lived-she was
feeding him with her milk. At last
they watched ner visit and discovered
the secret, and in honor OF her devo-
ton released the old man and he died
in after years natural death-in the
picture, almost ike life, are the old
man nursing the breast of the young
woman and the two rough soldiers
peeping through the grated window.