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The stork is called ooievaar in Dutch, an ancient word of obscure origin, but probably meaning “bringer of luck.” Little children who are acknowledged blessings to their parents know that the ooievaar brought them. But in these days of depression, children are dubious blessings, and the luck-bringing bird’s popularity has consequently suffered a decline. On…
Those from outside the Netherlands generally know very little about the country’s history between the time of Napoleon and the Second World War. The Revolt of the Netherlands and the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic are familiar territory, but to most foreigners there is a veil of mystery – even nonentity – drawn over…
The Dutch people are a race of painters. Even the Hollander who has no gift for the painting craft possesses the love of color. He turns his garden into a canvas and, using flowers for paints, enlists the aid of nature in composing a picture. The nursery is his palette; no artist ever found a…
Hollanders ashame of the name Dutch. Why should they be? Because it is used, they say, in so many derisive and derogatory phrases that give the nation a bad name. I deny that they do. A nation’s worth is appraised by its own actions, not by a foreigner’s abuse. Besides, most of those idioms have…
In American usage the name Dutch is somewhat confusing, because it may refer to the language and the people either of Holland or of Germany. Pennsylvania Dutch is a dialectal variety of German, Dutch toys come from Nürnberg, a Dutch treat is a form of entertainment that is totally unknown in Holland, and most of…
A history of the Netherlands must first explain how and why a Netherland nation came into being. It seems strange that in a tiny corner of the great plain of northwest Europe, open to invasion from all sides, there should exist a nation quite distinct from its far more powerful neighbors. It is even more…
Thus have other countries named this land: Les Pays-Bas., I Pacsi Bassi, Die Niederlands; It is the low flatness of the landscape that strikes the foreigner. But the Dutch painters saw more than the low country itself: they saw also the lofty skies with the wonderful light in the fleeting clouds above the green countryside…