Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-09-21

the water to practical uses at every
turn. We are shaded by tall trees
That are set along either side of tbs
road, and we know that we are in a
land OF peace, where hurry and clamor
would be unsee1nly. And yet in all
THIS benign quietude there is nothing
lethargtc; for always with us are the
great canals with their procession of
h1e' quiet and slow, but resolute and
unyleld1ng. For variety and richness
the English landscape is unapproach-
able, yet in this thing contrast is
not unlnteresting. AS we 20 through
our highways and lanes and wood
lands we shall find all the beauty and
peace, but the one thing that we shall
often miss is movement and life which
IS wholly IN tune with the surround.
ihss ana is, SO to speak, essential
TO the life of the nation as whole
trains may be this last, but they de,
stroy the calm instead of emphasizina
II. Motorcars are both discordant
and 1nessential. Even the pleasure
boats on river lend a suggestion of
art1nclallty. A team on the plough.
lands, shepherd folding his sheen q
held OF haymakers 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
ma always the feeling of seclusion
and restfulness heightened and
touched to a sense Of vitality by the
| canals and their full-sailed barses.
inese canals triumphantly redeem
the physical characteristics Of the
country from the charge of dullness.
! Holland In its general features Is un4
den1ably quaint, but quaintness has a
cnarm which is not enduring. After
while we begin to tire of the square.
ness and orderliness, and to look upon
"nat appeared to be individuality at
hrst as eccentricity. We grow a. little
uncomfortable in the land Of Lilliput,
and fret for change and some patch
OF wlldness. But of the canals we
never weary, for in them we see the
expression Of nations character
NODDED through centuries of stirring
and honorable history. We remember
the Dutch proVerb: God made tina
sea, we made the shore" and we feel
that these waterways are not on,v
beautiful and charged with color and
atmosphere, but symbolical of a peo-
pies greatness.
Inc Dutch painters, through whom
the national genius has found its naost
1orclole and enduring expression, have
reaized very completely this strange
blend of calm and strength. To look
at one of their portrait CLOUDS of cav
body of hospital governors, /. to
understand at once that these a,en
conducted their business thoroushlv
and well, but scornful of unidentified
haste, and for untroubled repose Van
der Meers picture Of Delft In the gal.
lery at The Hague could not well be
surpassed. In the great Dutch naint.
ings we do not find the TRANQUILITY NJ
the open places and luxuriant haunts
of nature, but the deep calm of strong
life, sober and not highly imaginative,
but entirely satisfying in its degree,
The rise and fall of nations ia .
phenomenon still unaccounted for and
constantly recurring. We know that
Rome step by step rose to a splandor
the glory of which is immortal hu,
we cannot grasp the secret of thts
splendor's decay or Of the decline al
the other great civilizations Of ths
world. We can but accept the fact
and wonder at the ruined and YET
noble monuments of their greatness
that still stand as at once a memoirs
and an inspiration. When the timG
comes that the peoples of western
Europe have also passed into thu
shadow of dead glories, we too shall
leave something Of our works to hear
witness to greatness that has gone
But Holland will be but recorded
history to the new nations of far.oF
; ages. The sea will have prevailed.
and the great canals, which are m
truly the essential expression of a ref
olute and heroic people as are the
palaces of Venice or the Acropolis Of
the Greeks, will have persisted and
will bear no testimony.
| lNhA n1pAHMA-en