The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1910-08-12


mercial supremacy, to resist
the encroachment of foreign
powers, the men of Holland
have endured many wars and achieved
great triumphs. The days of these
stubborn strifes have gone, for Hol-
land no longer has any pre-eminent
greatness to defend, no greedy as
saults to repel. From centuries of
strenuous effort she has drifted into a
quietly prosperous peace, her people
well content with the little which they
never lack, and bearing with them a
dignity and air of simple wellbeing
which are the tokens of their ances-
try. Yet, unconcerned as they may
be with wars and rumors of wars in
the world of men, they are still called
to the daily exercise OF the high cour-
age of their race, for they have ever
at their gates a foe never weary of
attack, and they know we'll that the
least relaxation Of wariness will bring
destruction. The peril of the sea at
all seasons is thing which no nation
known as Holland knows it. These
men hold their land and bring 1t to
rich cultivation in the face of the
great natural forces of the world.
Their country lies below sea level, and
is preserved from ruin by great EN-.
bankments thrown up around the coast
and a vast system of canals which
make a veritable network of the land.
Herein lies the secret of the Dutch
mans greatness of character. He has
had no opportunity OF becoming en-
feebled by security. The unceasing
conflict with the sea has become knit
up into the very fibers of the national
spirit, and has given to 1t strain of
silent self-reliance that could have
been born OF no other cause. Silent
for this warfare is not as the warfare
Of man with man, accompanied by
the clash of arms and blare of trum-
pets-it is carried on from year to
year in grim quietness against an ell
envy that may be repulsed but that
can never be destroyed. 1t was by
no mean chance that the country's
hero was William the Silent.
The Dutch landscape reflects the
national character In singularly vivid
manner. Narrow roads set with small
red bricks, trinity ordered gardens,
the little carts drawn by dogs, the
cottages with their little rows of bur-
nished copper and brass pans and
bowls set outside to sweeten in the
sun, the poles erected to attract the
storks at nesting-time, the miniature
windmills for domestic uses, the peo-
pie themselves In their bright blouses
and aprons and white sabots, the
scrupulous tidiness that prevails every
where, all combine to make up the
impression of toy country where
everything is we'll ordered and mel
low. Nowhere is the traveller brought
up in sudden and breathless wonder
before any gorgeous spectacle, no
where awed by any sense of feverish
activity. Desolation and grandeur are
alike absent. A beggar is hardly ever
seen, a ruin never. The absence of
these and of all pomp Of riches makes
one forgetful of the inequality of
things. And then in the midst OF all
this pretty unconcern is the everlast-
ing symbol of the Dutchman's strength
the sails.
There is nothing small about these.
They are liberal and workmanlike,
full Of dignity. Greedy for every
breath of wind, they bear the heavily
laden barges. beautiful from water
Inc - h.
canals from sea to sea. They move
with a measured dignity which deep
ems the sense of calm which is over
the whole landscape, and adds to 1t
strength and nobility of character.
Everything that the Hollander does
under the spell of the waters is in
formed by large and generous spirit
of power and fitness. If he has to
build house, he attempts to achieve
beauty, and becomes ornate and
wholly undistinguished; but when he
turns his hand to the great windmills
which grit the sides of his canals, he
works by instinct rather than by de-
sign, and shows himself to be pos
sessed of feeling for proportion and
line which is impeccable.
II is this innate suggestion of beau.
~ and rightness in the canal life of
the country that gives to the wonder.
full calm of the landscape it's crown.
ing glory. Flat pastures sweep out
on all sides to a far horizon where
lines and colors stand out with singu-
lar clearness and brilliance. Sleek
black and white cattle are confined TO
their rightful meadows by smaller