And it is a peculiar thing that most of them lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Since then Holland has done comparatively little in art.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2. No 6. SERIAL No. 58
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

The Mint Tower, Amsterdam

HOLLAND
By DWIGHT L. ELMENDORF

Lecturer and Traveler

THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL · MAY 1, 1914

MENTOR GRAVURES

• THE RYKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
• VEEN KADE, THE HAGUE
• STREET SCENE, ROTTERDAM
• STREET SCENE, AMSTERDAM
• MONTALBANS TOWER, AMSTERDAM
• SCENE IN HAARLEM

Holland has been described as a “country of unpainted pictures.” That is the artist’s point of view; for his eye takes in the picturesque possibilities of the subject. To us it seems as if Holland is of all countries the one most often seen in pictures. While, no doubt, there are many “untouched pictures” in the miles of level Dutch landscape, art has surely shown a generous recognition of Holland’s attractive scenery, and has celebrated its picturesqueness to all the rest of the world. Holland is a country of dikes and level meadow lands, of windmills and canals. From the point of view of an aëronaut the Dutch cities look like a map of Mars. This is especially true of Amsterdam, which, viewed from above, appears to be a network of canals. These canals are an attractive feature of the cities. In some cases the whole street is canal; in other cases the street is both “wet and dry”—a canal flanked by a street.

Copyright, American Press Association

“THE HOUSE IN THE WOOD,” THE HAGUE

This is Queen Wilhelmina’s favorite place of residence. It is located in the forest park about one and a half miles from The Hague, and was the meeting place of the first International Peace Conference, held in 1899

Imagine a country, in some spots lower than the sea, maintaining its existence only by constant vigilance and industry, fighting for its very life through the changing seasons against the one great enemy, water. The dunes or sand hills which line the coast serve as a barrier against the sea. These are reinforced by coarse grass, which holds the sand together. In some places the dikes are made of earth, sand, and clay, held together by willows, which are carefully planted so as to form a binder. In other places dikes are built of stone. The dikes are the fortifications against the inroads of the ocean, and also the floods in the rivers that flow through Holland to the sea.

Copyright, American Press Association

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, THE HAGUE

With the Queen’s Fish Pond in the foreground

When there are heavy rains in Germany the Rhine brings down a great additional volume of water, which has to be checked by the dikes and led away by the canals. Holland’s fight against water has been a warfare of varying fortunes. At times in the past dikes have been broken, great tracts of land have been inundated, and thousands of people drowned.

The Dutch are a careful, plodding, and industrious people, and they have profited by experience. As a result they are now not only holding their water enemy in check, but they have actually advanced upon the sea, and have taken from it sufficient territory to add materially to their cultivated lands. But the contest with the rivers and the sea has to be constant. A special body of engineers is appointed to look after the work, and the Dutch government spends annually several million dollars to keep the dikes in order and hold the ground. Water is confined in canals and in large basins; and the ever-faithful windmill, when not otherwise engaged, is employed to pump the water from the lowlands.

DIKES AND WINDMILLS

The dikes and the windmills are the two great factors of physical and commercial life in Holland. The dike safeguards the land; the windmill fans the currents of trade. Whether corn is to be ground, timber sawed, tobacco cut, paper manufactured, or water pumped, the long arms of the mill perform a willing and efficient service while the wind blows. The importance of the dike is reflected in the names of many Dutch towns. The word dam or dike is to be found almost everywhere. Amsterdam is the “dike” of the River Amstel (ahm´-stel); Rotterdam, the “dike” of the River Rotte; Zaandam (zahn-dahm´), the “dike” of the River Zaan—and so on. The thought of the protecting dike was generally in mind when a town was founded. The windmill is not only an untiring servant of industry, but is a sign of Dutch prosperity as well. You may hear it said of a Hollander, “He is worth ten millions.” You are quite as likely to hear it said, “He is worth ten windmills.”

THE ROYAL PALACE, AMSTERDAM

The palace, formerly the town hall, was begun in 1648, finished in 1655, and cost 8,000,000 florins. It rests on a foundation of 13,659 piles, and its tower is 167 feet high. The weather vane on the tower represents a merchant vessel, formerly the crest of the city

It required dogged determination and persevering energy to make the history of Holland. The Dutch people successfully resisted Spanish domination at a time when Spain was a supreme world power, and then they built up a government of their own in a country where they had to fight for the very existence of the land. In government administration, in thrift and commercial enterprise, in exploration and colonization, in literature, and in arts, Holland has proved herself to be a wonderful little country. She has had much to say in the Congress of Nations. One of her chief cities, The Hague, is identified in everyone’s mind with one of the most important world movements of modern times,—the International Peace Conference.

The population of Holland does not exceed 6,000,000, and there are only four towns having a population exceeding 100,000,—Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam (rot´-er-dam; Dutch, rot-ter-dahm