Page:Things Seen In Holland (1912).djvu/20

 by a race which has for centuries fought and mastered, and which will to its dying day strive to keep under control, that devouring and all-powerful element—water. “God made the sea; we made the shore,” is the Hollanders' not overweening boast. They are, so to speak, living over a water-volcano all the time—ay, and dancing right merrily on it; but at the same time they remain on the look-out, mindful that their ever-present and relentless enemy shall not take them unawares.

Phlegmatic the Hollander may appear, but the sea never finds him napping. His army of engineers is always on the alert, while the polderjongens, or labourers, are continually engaged on active service, a-damming and diking. Under the Orientally impassible mask of Dutch features there lurks, however, a spirit easily roused, as the cruel Spaniard discovered to his