In this swift-moving room, not less unknown, Race sits with race, and creed with other creed Together, yet withdrawn and each alone With his own little dread or fear or greed.
Nor do they speak ; I wonder if they did, What hope or dream or fear they would confide ? I wish each head were like a teapot lid That I could lift, to see what lay inside.
Soon now the 'bus will stop, and we shall go Our separate ways : and we who no more meet We self-important, careless, unconcernedScatter like dust along the dusty street.
L. K. LAWLER.
HOLLAND
IT must awaken in the heart of every Dutchman a sense of pride to know that his country's fleet has taken up battle station alongside the British and American navies in the Pacific. It will echo a past glory that was Holland's when her ships scoured the seven seas and as an emblem of her once maritime supremacy carried on their prow a broom handle to signify that they once swept the seas. Indeed England, for many years mistress of the oceans of the world, must acknowledge that Dutch ships once sailed boldly up the Medway.
Who are these people who made bold to challenge our maritime might and who now dare to thwart the masters of Europe and to resist the yellow plague in the Pacific ? Caesar, who knew Britain well, knew Holland better, and named their land the Low Lands. Since the days of the Roman Empire the Low Countries have been coveted by powerful nations both to the East and to the West, and they have frequently changed masters. About the commencement of the sixteenth century the provinces into which Holland was divided and of which all had free institutions, came under the rule of the King of Spain. In that century the Reformation was in progress and Philip II introduced the Inquisition into the Netherlands. Fear of severe repression was a contributing cause, and heavy taxation of rich merchants was a more obvious motive for a revolt which, lasting about
eighty years, resulted in the complete severance of the seven Northern Provinces and their formation into the Dutch Republic. The Southern Provinces were reconciled to Philip, and passed in 1713 to the possession of Austria, from which they were wrested by France in the wars following the French Revolution. In 1814 the whole of the Low Countries were united into a kingdom called the Netherlands. A revolt sixteen years later led to their division into the separate kingdoms of Belgium and Holland. Since that date Holland has been ruled by a constitutional monarchy.
Geographically the Low Countries form part of the great European plain stretching from the West coast of Ireland to the Ural Mountains. Not satisfied with the land that nature had given them, the Dutch reclaimed much land from the sea, so that a fair portion of the surface of Holland was originally under water. Even to this day the Dutch could submerge three-fifths of their land at will. The Dutch coast line consists largely of sand dunes some forty or fifty feet in height, which act as natural dykes preventing the inroad of the sea. In parts of Zeeland and on the east coast of the Zuyder Zee the land is as much as forty feet below sea level and is protected by artificial dykes. The Zuyder Zee itself was formed in the thirteenth century by the sea bursting through the sand dunes and connecting an inland lake with the sea.
Geographical environment must necessarily influence people, their industry and trade. Surrounded by powerful nations and with no natural barriers against the invader, the Dutch learnt to defend themselves by their own resources. It is surprising that a people so small should have succeeded in preserving through the centuries their independence and individuality, and it proves the robust character of their race. With little mineral wealth but a fertile soil, they have given themselves largely to agriculture and dairy farming. So successful have they been in these arts that they have been able to export large quantities of bacon, eggs, butter and cheese. Not content with producing the mere necessities of life the Dutch have given free expression to their passion for colour and beauty by setting aside large tracts of land solely for the cultivation of flowers. Dutch horti-