Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-08-12

canals which serve as hedges, for the
people have put their mastery over
the water to practical uses at every
turn. We are shaded by tall trees
that are set along either side of the
road, and we know that we are in
land of peace, where hurry and clamor
would be unseemly And yet In all
this benign quietude--there is moth.
ing lethargic, for always with us are
the great canals with their procession
OF life, quiet and slow, but resolute
and unyielding. For variety and rich.
ness our English landscape Is unap.
pro2chable, yet in this thing a con-
trast is not embarrassing As we go
through our highways and lanes and
woodlands we shall find all the beau
ty and majesty of peace, but the one
thing that we shall often miss is move
ment and life which is wholly In tune
with the surroundings and is, so to
speak, essential to the life of the ma
ton as a whole, Trains may be this
. last, but they destroy the calm in.
stead of emphasizing It, Motor cars
are both discordant and inessential.
Even the pleasure-boats on a river
lend a suggestion of artiflciality. A
team on the ploughlands, shepherd
folding his sheep, a field of hayma-
kers or reapers, only in these do we
find the life that is in exact accord
with the scene and these we can only
find at intervals. In Holland, on the
other hand, in places the most remote
from cities and the sound OF markets
and commerce, we find always the
feeling of secluslon and restfulness
heightened and touched to a sense OF
vitality by the canals and their full
sailed barges which form an integral
part of the country's daily life
These canals triumphantly redeem
the physical characteristics of the
country from the charge of dulness
Holland in its general features is un.
deniably quaint, but quaintness has a
charm which is not enduring. After a
while We begin to tire of the square
ness and orderliness, and to look up
on what Appeared to be individuality
at first as eccentrlclty. We grow a
little uncomfortable In the land OF
Lilliput, and fret for change and
some patch of Witness. But Of the
canals we never weary for in them we
see the expression of nations char.
acter moulded through centuries OF
stirring and honorable history. We re.
member the Dutch proverb, God
made the sea. we made the shore"
and we feel that these waterways are
not only beautiful and charged with
color and atmosphere but symbolicai
of a peoples greatness
The Dutch painters, through whom
the national genius has found It's most
forcibe and enduring expression,
have realized very completely this
strange blend OF calm and strength
To look at one Of their portrait groups
of. say body of hospital governors,
is to understand at once that these
men conducted their business thor.
oughly and well. but scornful OF un.
dignified haste, and for untroubled re.
pose Van der Meer's picture of Delft
in the gallery at The Hague could not
well be surpassed. In the great Dutch
paintings we do not find the Tranquil
ity Of the open places and luxuriant
haunts of nature, but the deep calm of
strong life. sober and not highly i'm.
aginatiye, but entirely satisfying In It's
degree
The rise and fall OF nations is a phe-
nomenon still unaccounted for and
constantly recurring. We know that
Rome step by step rose to a splendor
the story OF which is immortal, but
we cannot grasp the secret of this
splendor's decay or of the decline OF
! the other great civilizations OF the
world. We can but accept the fact,
| and wonder at the ruined and yet no.
| BILE monuments of their greatness that
! still stand as at once a memory and
an inspiration. When the time comes
| that the peoples of western Europe
have also passed into the shadow OF
dead glories. we too shall leave some.
thing of our works to bear witness to
IA greatness that has gone. But Hol.
land will be but a recorded history
to the new nations of far-off ages. The
sea will have prevailed, and the great
canals, which are as truly the essen.
tial expression Of a resolute and he
roic people as are the palaces Of
Venice or the Acropolis of the Greeks,
will have persisted and win bear no
testimony.
JOHN DRlNKWATER.