The Holland Society of New York - Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 55 text:

J'0Pf1eari0,, DC of thes 0 anfriend, 3-ClClllZl0n to S a Son ora C lofty anceg. cl compare 'S us of the C attended a little of in he came k, what did Something IC inquired. El man, and ught not to rad, and he So he kept .ail dropped H is mother ? Why, rn,-that is ies in this is and have n of family ntl remem- md nation- ing of the sophie, and iblic is I10f ous effortS 25 made by many races to restore human rights to -man as man. True Americanism is not a strange, wild project, emerging from the soil like a fungus, per. haps edible, perhaps poisonous. It is the flower of a score of civilizations struggling to be free, It is the crown and consummation of three centuries of noble aspirations in Holland and Scotland, in Eng- land and Ireland, in France and Germany, in Swit- zerland and Sweden. No one country can claim the United. States as her child, either for purposes of approbation, or re- buke, patronage or corporal punishment. The Republic has many szlsteaf nations, but her only moilzeff is that heaven-born ideal of Liberty, for whom many a land has provided hospitality, but this land a settled home and a lawful dominion. Her children are not the aborigines, nor even the first settlers, but all who have come hither to claim her protection and acknowledge her sway. Our own history should teach us the narrowness, the falsity, the folly of know-nothingism in all its forms. America does not belong to a tribe, even the tribe of Tammany, but to a people of kindred spirits, gathered from the four winds of heaven. And thou, my country, write it on thy heart, Thy sons are they who nobly take thy part g Who consecrates his manhood at thy shrine, Wherever born, is born a son of thine : Lovers of Liberty, and haters of disorder, They shall be built in strength along thy border. It is for the service of this kind of Americanism that the Holland Society was founded. It lives .by eating, like the rest of mankind, but it does H0tl1VC for eating. While its members enjoy 3' good

Page 54 text:

24 among genealogical trees and in the propagation of progenitors. It was a member of one of these societies who, going d0Wn'f0WH, Saud to a friend, with great pride: I have just l121'd an addition to my family. Being asked Whether it was a son Of 3 daughter, he answered, Better than that,-it is 3 great-grandfather. When We consider the nature of the lofty ances- tral claims Which are made by some, and compare them with the present reality, it reminds us of the experience of a little boy in Baltimore. I-le attended one of the new-fangled schools where a little of everything is taughtg and one day when he came home his mother said to him, Frederick, what did you learn at school to-day P I learned something about devolution. What is that? she inquired, Well, said the boy, once there was a man, and he was very bad, and they told him he ought not to be bad, but hewent right on being bad, and he turned into a monkey with a tail on. So he kept right on being bad, and pretty soon his tail dropped off, and he turned into a protoplasmf' His mother said: What became of the protoplasm P Why, mother, said the boy, the protoplasm,-that is me l But thereare other ancestral societies in this country which rest upon a more solid basis and have a more serious object than the cultivation of family pride. They ,exist for the recognition and remem- brance of the. different strains of blood and nation- ality that have entered into the making of the American people. This is a high, philosophic, and patriotic object. v , It helps us to remember that our Republic is not a new experiment, but the result of gloriousefforts Cl? afll' ra mall' ' f asoecl, emerglrl1ghP5 pr I edible' 'Or halls fclllllllatl ' I r the irat10ll5 ln L noble asp d, in l I ll hill and rilegweden. lland 2 r ZeNo one C0Ullm ca ifnno, rifle' lo' P rin ohffllage 0' noon has mall' f holler is that heavelhl ihom m2HY 3 land his land a settled ho Her children are not I irst settlers, but all Wll her protection and acl own history should tea ialiity, the folly of lorms. America does the tribe of Tammany, spirits, gathered from ll1 hAI1ll lll0ll, my gmnur' flhysons are they '50 Who consemig his W Wherever hom' 5 un Lllelsll I-My mn Trey shall be hi il I lt isfor th . iron H,,,f,j,mwg an eating, like the SWUY1 l0r Ealing, W 1

Page 56 text:

26 , dinner, a loving cup, and a friendly jest, their prime Object is to recognize and perpetuate the contribu- tion made by the Dutch Republic to the life and liberties of the AmC1'iC3U PCOPIQ' This was a service much needed. For fifty years or more people had been taking Irving's ex. cellent fooling with the Knickerbockers as a serious history. Boston had presented itself as the hub, and the spokes, and the rim, and the tire, of America. Plymouth Rock was described as the source of the corner-stone, the cap-stone, and all the other stones of the building. We know better now. We know that the Pilgrim Fathers, in twelve years of Dutch education, grew more, in breadth of mind and girth of waist, than they had grown in two-score years before. Plymouth Rock pants were made in Holland! The first public school, the first public hospital, the first practical establishment of re- ligious liberty on this. continent came from old Amsterdam to New Amsterdam. When the little Half Moon sailed into Manhattan. Bay 292 years ago, with the banner of orange, white, and blue flying at her mast, she brought the threefold gift of popular education, public charity, and re- ligious freedom. The white and the blue remain with us. The orange has been deepened into red, with the blood of heroes who could die, but could not surrender liberty. This passionate and unconquerable love of freedom has always shed a ray of glory upon the character of the Dutch. They may be slow, they may be conservative, they may be fond of Comfort? but try to subjugate them, and whether Y0l1I: Conquering empire be Roman, or Spanish,.or British, you will find that the sons of Holland do T fandt b w ww rofdl30,mrd sh yfiofllh Standing ,Carle monilfiseiindants e imma? flood 3PPlaulii But l Shou d. t0'nighr,1f l r amber. aS In mwmmm done during lliimoti0H of ife C L lf has Calle dresses, from sp? ooios a low burions to civrlrz. world, and CSPCC' 2, lt has begu ol the records 0 :documents relatin i 3. It has bro generosity of Dr. Roosevelt, of N es the efforts of the sc books than was es llftt part of then library of Columbi I 4' M185 establi so Dutch Literatur for two years by D, 0 e C0lltlIlue i Pitts, in th Street' e Dutch xt L, , ' xr., 'E' - 1 'f U-. m ix .