Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR 9 soms and heaps of fresh fruit temptingly spread under the trees in the market square, and the women and girls, with their wooden shoes, quaint head-dresses, and broad, good faces, were an inter- esting study. Near here was the great Kirk, or church of St. Lawrence, and close at hand was a statue of the noted philosopher and scholar. Erasmus, who was born in Rotterdam. He is represented as holding an open book, and one of the jokes of the city, told to strangers, is that when Erasmus hears the sound of the great bell from the church tower, he turns over a leaf of his book. It is a pleasant thing to find a people holding in pride and reverence for four hundred and thirty- eight years the memory of a man born in their city, and keeping alive an intimate memory of him. They still tell the story that while in Paris occupied in study, and so poor he was almost in rags, he wrote home to a friend: When I get some money I will buy some Greek books, and after that, some clothes. Rotterdam has all the modern attractions of other large cities—a museum of real merit, excel- lent shops of every sort, beautiful villas and gardens along tree-shaded canals, an extensive and hand- some park, and a zoo” that is particularly well supplied with rare animals and birds, and where a band gives daily concerts and hundreds of persons come to enjoy all its advantages. Only a distance of fifteen minutes away is The Hague, called the Court City of Holland, a clean, cheerful place that somehow reminds one of a pro- gressive American city—there is so much of pros- perity to be noted and such an air of brisk activity. There is a royal palace in the city where the Queen sometimes pays a visit, and in the vast park that gives the name to it— the Count’s Hedge” (or wood), a contraction in the Dutch name giving The I Iaguc”—there is a gem of a palace, called the House in the Wood,” where the famous Peace Congress met a few years ago. The Queen rarely visits this palace, which is ricli in frescoes, paintings, hangings of splendid tapestry, velvet, and satin, and rare bric-a-brac from all parts of the world. The Wood is magnificent, with its grand trees, roads, rustic bridges across brooks and canals, restful little cafes here and there, tennis courts, fields for children to enjoy, and a great open space for the review of troops. The parliament sits at The Hague, in buildings, on a stone-paved court, that were once the resi- dence of the Count,” and in the court is the oldest building at The Hague, the Gothic Hall, now being thoroughly restored. Directly in front of this Barneveldt. the Grand Pensionary, after the form- ing of the “United Provinces” (which he offered to the sovereignty of Queen Elizabeth), was beheaded. He was called a traitor, but all the charges against him were false. It would seem that bright little Holland might have escaped some of the horrors of history, but she has had her share of these. Not far from the par- liament buildings is the old prison where brave John De Witt and his brother Cornelius were killed and torn in pieces by a mob that believed them traitors, while in truth John De Witt was one ot the greatest and most loyal of the Dutch leaders, a Republican of broad views, and bitterly opposed to the claims of the House of Orange. It was while l)c Witt had command of the naval forces that De Ruyter actually entered the river Thames and burnt some of the English war vessels. The story of John and Cornelius De Witt is more dra- matic than any novel extant. Just out of the parliament square is the Museum, this building having been the home of William « • ()range—a fine old house, with much rich carving and with high square rooms, the walls of which ar . now covered with valuable pictures of the famous Dutch “Schools of Art. Some of the pictures are the greatest in the art world, and travelers must go to The Hague to sec them, these being the Young Bull” of Paul Potter, the Anatomical Lecture,” by Rembrandt, and the Young Mother. by Gerard Dow. It is in this gallery that one realizes how little real change there has been in Holland in the last three hundred years, for here upon the walls are bits of life, quaint interiors, and spirited group- ings. that can be found to-day by stepping aside from any busy centre in city or town. The Hague is close to the North Sea. and only about two miles away is the fishing village of Scheveningcn (Schcv-cn-ing-en). with its beach twenty miles long, upon which the broad boats of the hardy fishermen are rolled, after the great side boards—that keep them in the wind—have been pulled up. Rollers are slipped under the boats, and men and women pull them far up the beach, where the fish are sold directly from the boats. I'lie women of Scheveningcn are as tough and hardy as their husbands and sons, who go down to the sea in ships.” and the children have all the qualities of the parents,—sober, stolid, faithful, and brave. They never seem to have hours for plav like our children, for they are always busy—the girls knitting and mending fish-nets, and the boys with the boats or the drying fish. Aside from its odd little houses and shops, its frames for drying fish, and its fish-nets everywhere, there is a modern Scheveningcn, with great hotels, concert halls, restaurants, a splendid pier far out in the sea. some roller coasters, hundreds of small tents pitched upon the beach for shade and rest, big wicker chairs with a sort of wicker hood to keep off the sun and wind, and odd little bathing houses on wheels, to which horses are attached to draw them into the water, so that the bathers step di- rectly into the sea. and later are again drawn far up on tiic beach after the toilet is made. Some sixty thousand visitors come each season to the fashionable North Sea watering place, and at the Kurhaus. for twenty-seven years in succession, the celebrated Philharmonic orchestra, of Berlin, has given two concerts a day in the concert hall and upon the terrace. Two hundred persons dine each evening in the dining saloon, while another orchestra, hidden among palms, plays popular airs; there is a finely appointed library and reading room, with papers from all [tarts of the world; there is a

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8 SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR DIKES, DITCHES AND DUTCHMEN. By Mae D. Frazar. T WAS early on a summer morning that the ship entered the river Maas and took on board the pilot for the last of the voyage to Rotterdam. As the river began to broaden, the sun came up in a blaze of splendor, and the masses of clouds that had been a soft, rose- colored pink turned to brilliant orange and gold, and then to light, fleecy white, as they were ab- sorbed by the sun’s glowing rays. vidual labor of the Hollander, and recall the humor- ous story of the enemy once in attack upon the country, when the Hollander, having no more am- munition, loaded the big guns with round, red. cheeses; and when the enemy received the first volley, he retired from the scene, for he said that if the Dutch had begun to throw cheese, there was no limit to the time he could hold his own; heaps of neat, white boxes of every size and shape tell the story of busy life in our own United States, and the IN THE HARBOR OF MARKEN. HOLLAND. Like an enchanted city. Rotterdam lay in the pink and golden distance, amid a forest of masts on ships belonging in every quarter of the world, with picturesque buildings and graceful bridges touched into lines of vivid color, and with long lines of trees along the shore and in clustering groups, marking the cool, fresh parks, which drew the fancy ami held a rare spell after ten days on the broad ocean. It is not often that commerce, pure and simple, has elements of poetry, for it usually suggests the solid comfort of prosaic homes. Hut in Holland there is poetic suggestion amid the homeliest scenes, and this is one of the charms that makes the country so attractive to strangers and so dear to its own people. Along the quais and the banks of the canals strange cargoes are being discharged: one gets a faint, sweet odor of dyewoods and spices that bring up pictures of hot. tropical lands; bales of cotton lead the fancy to picturesque groups who have sent the fruit of their industry to the great wide world; piles upon piles of cheese tell of the patient indi- thought that we are necessary to the Old World, in our keen energy and ambition, gives us a glow of honest pride. While it is a sad fact that nearly all great cities are alike, there are. happily, a few unique excep tions here and there. Rome can never be other than the city of pagan splendor and Christian triumph ; Venice is for all time the Queen of the Adriatic, even if she is. perhaps, in these modern days, dethroned; and Rotterdam and Amsterdam enjoy a distinct and picturesque charm of commer- cial activity and sturdy independence of life. On this clear, cool morning the canals were full of boats and the streets with a busy people. At nearly every little bridge one had to wait while a boat was slowly poled by and the bridge lowered; milk carts drawn by dogs and assisted by women were met at every turn, shops were being opened for the day, and the streets cars were full of pas- sengers going to business. The market for fruit and flowers was beyond words delightful, with its masses of fragrant bios-

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10 SOM HR VILIJC HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR magnificent reception salon, rooms for various games, and a good and attractive theatre, together with a dozen shops where pretty souvenirs are sold —all this comprised in the Kurhaus and under its direction. A ride by train of a few minutes brings one to the old University town of Leyden. Nearly four hundred years ago the town sustained a remarkable siege from the Spaniards, and, as a last resort, the Prince of Orange broke the dikes and let in the water so quickly that over a thousand of the enemy were drowned, while it happened that the wind took a fleet of two hundred boats from Rotterdam to the very gates of the city, and so gave them the help they needed to save the town. Of course they suffered during this period, the people of Leyden, and the Prince of Orange offered with its acres upon acres of fields where tulips and other flowers arc raised to send broadcast through the world. At one time tulip bulbs were so valu- able the Dutch used them as money. The city has a grand old kirk, bare of ornament, as all these arc, except for the models of some of the war ships that led the Dutchmen to victory in the old days, these being suspended from the roof by long iron rods, and to this day the sight of these ships causes the hearts of all true Hollanders to thrill with joy and pride. A superb organ, one of the best in Europe, stands in this old kirk, and its music rolls through the vast space as waves from a sea of melody. The fish market crowds up to the walls of the kirk, and in Rotterdam and The Hague little shops and houses are built on all around the kirks, ex TYPICAL TYPES OF HOLLANDERS. them either a release from certain taxes or a uni- versity, and it proves the standing of its people to know that they chose the university, which has al- ways occupied a high place among the educational institutions of Europe. The buildings are simple, and entirely lacking in the perfect appointments that mark our own uni- versity buildings, the white walls here and there bearing sketches of crayon that are clever indeed, and that are very old. On either side of the door of the room where the examination papers are looked over, there are these sketches—on one side a young man triumphant, wildly waving a paper that says he has passed, and on the other side a poor, forlorn fellow, who had dropped into a chair to mop his streaming eyes, and limply holding the paper that says he has failed. 'I'he house of John Robinson is not far away, close to the fine old kirk, and this house is a Mecca for the feet of all good Americans. The way to Amsterdam lies through Haarlem. actly as barnacles fasten and grow on the sides of a ship. Amsterdam is a fine city, its chief activity center- ing at The Dam. where is the Royal Palace, the Old Kirk, and the Bourse. The old man who is chief guardian of the palace has quite an idea ttf wit. and as he shows visitors from our country the throne room, he points to the throne, and says, Here sits our queen. In Holland we have only one queen, while in America every woman (with a sweeping bow) is a queen.” Queen Wilhclmina spends little time at this palace, and it is small cause for wonder, as it is a bare, grim place, set directly on the public square. Opposite is the old Bourse, or Stock Exchange, and upon one day in the year the boys of the city hold high carnival within it, for it is wholly given up to them. Several hundred years ago, some boys playing at its doors heard plans for a secret attack by the Spanish upon the city, and their speedy report