s into canals, and so prevent the
inundation of the inhabitants. The Hollander furnishes good illustration
of the practical value of Emerson's words, "Borrow the strength of the
elements. Hitch your wagon to a star, and see the chores done by the gods
themselves."

To the west are seen the church spires of Haarlem, and its long canal,
which like a silver thread ties it to Amsterdam. To the east the towers
of Utrecht are visible, and to the north glitter in the morning sun the
red roofs of Zaandam and Alkmaar.

Far away stretched the waters of the Zuider Zee, which Holland plans to
reclaim by an enbankment from the extreme cape of North Holland, to the
Friesland coast, so as to shut out the ocean, and thereby acquire 750,000
square miles of new land; a whole province. At present 3,000 persons
and 15,000 vessels are employed in the Zuider Zee fisheries, the revenues
of which average $850,000 a year. It is proposed to furnish equivalents
to satisfy these fishermen. It is estimated that this wonderful
engineering feat will extend over 33 years and cost $131,250,000.

Christine now conducted her artist friends out of the Palace and over to
the Rijks Museum to see Rembrandt's largest and best work, his "Night
Watch." It is on the right as you enter, covering the side of the room.
It represents a company of arquebusiers, energetically emerging from
their Guild House on the Singel. The light and shade of the Night Watch
is so treated as to form a most effective dramatic scene, which, since
its creation, in 1642, has been enthusiastically admired by all art
connoisseurs.

Rembrandt was the son of a miller, and his studio was in his father's
wind-mill, where light came in at a single narrow window. By close
observation he became master of light and shade, and excelled in vigor
and realism. At $50 a year he taught pupils who flocked to him from all
parts of Europe, but, like too many possessed of fine genius, he died in
poverty. Later, London paid $25,000 for a single one of his six hundred
and forty paintings. The Dutch painters put on canvas the everyday
home-life and manners of their people, while the Flemish represented more
the religious life of the lower Netherlands.

These journeys in Belgium gave Alfonso and Leo enlarged ideas as to the
possibilities of portrait painting. In Alma Tadema, of Dutch descent, and
Millais they saw modern examples of wonderful success, which made clear
to them that the high art of portrait