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

Page 227 text:

173. emphasize it he pictured it as extending even to the animals, and said that the wolf would dweu with the lamb, that the leopard would 119 down with the kid, that the calf, the lion, and the fatling W0U1d keep Company 'GOgether, and that a little child should lead them. Are our eyes to Witness the fulfilment of this prophecy? In a forum where right prevails and where dis- putes are settled, not by armed force but by reason, a little nation like the Netherlands can enter into an honorable rivalry with her more populous neighbors. But this has not come all at once. It has been of gradual growth, as all things are that are strong and lasting. The trees that are able to withstand the storms mature slowly, and so do great movements, y ' Heaven is not gained by a single boundg We build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And mount to its summit round by round. V- ' So with reforms, it takes time to work them out. We need not expect that the nations will disband their armies at once, we need not ex- pect that all difficulties will be taken before the Court of Arbitration, but we have reason to be- lieve that the light of a better day is dawning, and that we are about to enter upon an era in which conscience will assert its supremacy Over brute force, and the crown of victory be awarded, not to the nation that has the largest army or the strong- est navy, but to the nation that sets the best ex- ample and contributes most to the welfare of the world. Cflpplausej

Page 226 text:

172 the Netherlands. I am not going to speak here of the wonderful bravery of those people, a bravery exemplified all through their history, a bravery of which we had a recent illustration, when a handful of them down in South Africa made such a heroic fight for their existence. While they failed there, they brought blessings to liberty-loving people everywhere, for they made a war of conquest so expensive that no nation in the near future will attempt to take independence from a republic, however small. QApplamse.D . I have been thinking of the progress made by the inhabitants of the Netherlands, how they have rescued their lands from the seas and won their victory over Neptune. I was interested in the quaint cities there, with their hundreds of canals and their leaning buildings. I was interested in all that I saw, but I was impressed most by the fact that the Netherlands is to furnish the site for the Temple of Peace soon to be erected, Qapplausel that, on that soil, reddened by the blood of an Eighty Years' War, will rise the permanent home of the Arbitration Court. At The Hague I re- called the long struggle for freedom of conscience, for freedom of speech, and for constitutional gov- ernment, and rejoiced that at last the fragrant flower of peace had appeared upon the thorny stalk of war. I am glad that an American citizen has contributed the money that makes it possible for this building to be erected in a place so well fitted for it. QApplcmse.J And as I thought of little Holland-little among the nations and yet great in contests where mind and heart control-I recalled the words of the Prophet of old, who foretold an era of peace so universal and so profound that to

Page 228 text:

gif. -swf X, ., IV, i 5 i , .., . 1 f if-41 2 ggi 1 'l 121 Lf i'3Q i 'Iv ' V X ' 1 ':?f,1fl ' 4 , ,n 'Q I 1 I 'QQZIM Q t' ':'iL . 'f' . , fi if -W1 i .1,T',irr 2 iw. . 5 'l : Tffml 5 ,j'2,'fgf1I7 35145: Q ,, M, 2 'TW 1 LM, ws , Fi l '1'l Z l 5, hi '-1. S ill' + f '. '- ': .IM J i l 1 N , ,'i. ' 1 'Z 1 1 ,lg 1 ,gp , :-1 A il Y g 4 1 1 ,- Zia. ,, , QF, l , ii-'2j by i l gifs' ' l M T lil? I A ,sg g , Ulf, l, 'fir' 1 f T 2 r 125 i Q ,f ' ist? 3 T s 'f G E , Z, I tv ,I gl i ET A lf H 1 31 4 if fl fx , 1 . fi . i 'T ' ,, T ,s ,a l il' 1, .3 -'lf i Elia '12 , W 3 , i i if ' l X 1 , i w Q ,gi l Q. 1 lp 5.2 li 'mf i v ,. .1 QM.. Hkiw ' M T 4 ' 'l E r T T eil if 1' fl 9 if pi ll li N M ,- ij l' i I V i l! T 1 ibm 3 hip , it 25 M5314 . +. Mil :3 ggffsin' Will eil me, gl fflfii V :la I . flliili z i,-..l .- if 1 fd? ,Vg wflifil f ., l, v 1 al. .-gui, , 4, ui!! , H 32 ri T ei gzkmff 'Q' Zh.-. T 4,i I - 5 I ,i ,, I2 l :W ' 'ilu of-4 'll Q In 5 .1 . f' swf! 1' l 119 ye r 174 Q Sometimes when we see the war-spirit rampant, we are tempted to quote from the poet, Right forever on the scaffold, Wrfang forever on the throne, but in such hours we can draw inspiration and en- couragement from Holy Writ. When Elijah was fleeing from the wrath of wicked Jezebel and be- lieved all the prophets to have been slain, the Lord commanded him to stand ,upon the mountain, and, as he stood there, a mighty wind swept by him and rent the rocks asunder, but God was not in the windg and after the wind came an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake, a fire, but God was not in the fire, and after the tire, a still, small voice, and it was the voice of God. And so, to-day, throughout the world an increasing number, standing upon the heights, are coming to believe that God is not in the ironclads that sweep the ocean with their guns, that God is not in the armies that shake the earth with their tread, that God is not in the iire of musketry, but in the still, small voice of justice that issues from tribunals like that in- stituted at The Hague. cAPPlGMS6.7 There have been times when bravery upon the battlefield was considered the .highest form of virtue. There have been times when intellectual supremacy, and intellectual independence were considered all-sufficient, but the time is coming when heart, characteristics will receive the attention they de- serveg the time is coming when we shall, not , de- Ene civilization as Buckle dened it, ' ' as measured bythe mastery of the human mind over the forces of nature, but shalldefine it as the harmonious de-