For those who would know Holland and the people, no trip would be complete that merely included a few of the prominent cities. Take your pack if you care for tramping, or engage a car if you prefer to ride: you will find the roads good. Then go through the country and meet the people in their simplest condition. The Dutch farmer has not changed in several hundred years. He is a thrifty, contented individual, and his life will interest you. You will find the country families hospitable, and you will learn much from them that the city Hollanders have not told you. As you go through the farm districts you will be impressed with the varied color and the picturesque qualities of everything. And though you may not be an artist you must, in the course of a sojourn in Holland, feel the stir of art consciousness. Aptly indeed has Holland been called “a land of untouched pictures.” SUPPLEMENTARY READING THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC _J. L. Motley._ HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS _J. L. Motley._ Two justly famous and comprehensive historical works. MOTLEY’S DUTCH NATION _W. E. Griffis._ A condensation of Motley’s works brought down to 1908. DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY _P. M. Hough._ A well written and authoritative book. THE AMERICAN IN HOLLAND _W. E. Griffis._ A book that cannot fail to interest. HOLLAND _George Wharton Edwards._ A book delightfully written, and artistically illustrated by a well known painter. _THE OPEN LETTER_ The travel impressions of an artist are always interesting. Mr. George Wharton Edwards in his book, “Holland of Today,” presents with brush and pencil a vivid and attractive picture of life and natural conditions in the Netherlands: * * * * * “The first impression that the traveler in Holland gets is in one respect similar to that given by the far western prairie regions, and the broad, wind-swept flat country with comparatively few trees, and lying open to the gales of the North Sea, has a little of the same bare aspect. But with this is mingled a most decided aspect of novelty. Here the fields are cultivated with the care of suburban market gardens, and are separated by long V-shaped ditches, through which the water runs sluggishly some feet below the surface of the ground. Looking across them, one sees broad, brown, velvety-hued sails moving in various directions among the growing crops; the roadway is on an embankment, running high above the land, frequently crossing canals lying far enough below for the brightly painted barges with lowered masts to pass freely, generally without the need of drawbridges. * * * * *