The Benson signal., 1920-04-17
Holland Will
Honor Pilgrims

be either in the cathedral (the Peters
kerk or st. Peters church) or in the
great auditorium of the university.
There some of the foremost orators of
America and of Holland are expected
to speak Proceedings will be partly
in English (Which all educated HOl-
landers understand) and partly in
Dutch.
After two days in Leyden the con-
gress will move to Amsterdam, where
truly regal reception awaits them.
They will visit the state picture gal
lery under distinguished guidance and
take part in religious services in, the
ancient Bagynekerk (the English Re-
formed church,, where the remnant
Of the Pilgrim community (thOse that
remained on in Amsterdam in 162O)
finally sought church membership.
On the Pilgrims Trail.
On Thursday, September 2, it is pro-
posed that American members of the
congress be carried by canal boats
from Leyden to Delfshaven-or at
least part of that way-along the
exact route traversed on July 81, 1920,
by the earliest group of Pilgrims that
sought a home in New England. On
arriving at Rotterdam (Of which Delfs-
haven is now an integral parD the
visitors will be taken by some large
and cOmmOdiOus vessel around the
| l. xryi1 hn
board and afterward dinner. During
! the interval a service will be con-
Quoted in the venerable Dutch church
of Delfshaven, and a popular concert
of American and Dutch sacred music
will be given in the cathedral of St
Lawrence. This edifce, recently re-
stored, is one Of the most stately and
impressive in the Netherlands. It is
replete with historic mementoes, and
as it seats some five thousand hearers
one may Judge what impression this
function may make both on American
and Dutch delegates. It will be the
crowning event in this series. On the
preceding Sundays devotional services
| have been arranged to be addressed
| by eminent American pastors in the
| ancient Scots church of Rotterdam
! the church of the exiled Covenanters
still more venerable English reformed
church in the Bagynhof, Amsterdam.
| The latter is associated not only with
Pilgrim history but with the curious
and heroic stories of the Reformed
Church of America and the Reformed
Church in the United States. 1t is ex-
pected that one of the events Of the
Amsterdam visit will be the unveil-
ing Of memorial windows.
No doubt also the plan TO have a
fitting memorial erected in memory of
the Pilgrims at Delfshaven will be car
ried out. We can scarcely exaggerate
what America, and indeed the world,
owes to Holland And that debt is
due to Holland not merely through the
Pilgrims but through the Dutch inf1u-
ence in New York and through the
| influence of the Reformed Church in
the United States still further south.
But the main subject Of this sympa-
thetic Dutch celebration will be the
Pilgrims heritage-and that is mar
velous one. The Pilgrims loved liberty
before they sought refuge In Holland ;
but in Holland they had their love of
liberty immeasurably deepened and in
tensified. They learned tolerance Gas
the most tolerant nation then existing
understood it); they learned repre-
sentative government, freedom of
press, personal care and concern for
the poor, and such practical concerns
as the keeping of archives, the docu-
menting Of titles and deeds. And 1t
must not be forgotten that the twelve
years that the Pilgrims spent in the
"Federation of States now called Hol-
land taught them to analyZe and think
out the problems Of states rights and
federal government. Truly Holland
was the nursing mother Of the noble
band that afterward founded New
England as she was the direct mother
Of so much that was at first directly
and exclusively Dutch in the great
commonwealth.
All Americans Invited.
All this and many new and fresh as
poets of the old questions will be pre-
sented at the congress by the best
minds of America-diyines and law.