That Holland is determined to make a bold stand and fight for her rights if needed, is shown by the fact that she has mined her coast and dynamited her bridges so that she can cut her dams on short notice. There was such a rumor the day we were at The Hague. It had been falsely rumored that the German Consul had been recalled that day and that the country would be flooded within twenty-four hours. The Dutch took little credence of these wild rumors, and continued their business and went through their work of mobilizing in the same quiet, energetic way. In spite of their delicate position, there is not a country in Europe that seemed less interested in the war than this north country. The hotel-keepers were too busy looking after the welfare and comforts of tired Americans to take time to discuss war. The shopkeepers were too busy supplying the tourists who had any money left with old Dutch silver and delftware to worry about the war. While the steamship company were too occupied enlarging their boats with auxiliary cabins, getting extra crews and recalling their captains, who had already been sent to the front, to bother their heads about war scares. It may be a mere coincidence, still it is a strange one, that some of the persecuted forefathers fled from England and remained in Holland until they came to our America. It is just a little strange that an American gave such a handsome peace palace to the world, and it should find its place in Holland. It is no less strange that the Queen of Holland and her ministers have taken such an active part in all the peace movements. In the last few weeks they have been most energetic in succoring Americans who fled from Germany and Austria, and she has been most active in getting these refugees home. As I saw the Queen of Holland leave her palace one afternoon in an automobile, the crowds waiting about her palace to greet her showed that she is near and dear to all her subjects. The fact that she was not surrounded by any soldiers or civil service men shows that she has nothing to fear from assassins. Every man in the crowd took off his hat as a mark of respect, while the women greeted her with shouts and the waving of handkerchiefs.