There are windmills in Holland (I trust the fact need not longer be
concealed) and these windmills are used for every possible mechanical
purpose. Now the wind blows only a part of the time--except in
Chicago--and there may be whole days when not a windmill turns in all
Holland. The men go out in the morning and take due note of the wind, and
if there is an absolute calm many of them go back to bed. I have known
the wind to die down during the day and the whole force of a windmill
troop off to a picnic, as a matter of course. So the elements in Holland
set man the example--he will not rush himself to death when not even the
wind does.

Then another thing: Holland has many canals. Farmers load their hay on
canal-boats and take it to the barn, women go to market in boats, lovers
sail, seemingly, right across the fields--canals everywhere.

Traveling by canal is not rapid transit. So the people of Holland have
plenty of precedent for moving at a moderate speed. There are no
mountains in Holland, so water never runs; it may move, but the law of
gravitation there only acts to keep things quiet. The Dutch never run
footraces--neither do they scorch.

In Amsterdam I have seen a man sit still for an hour, and this with a
glass of beer before him, gazing off into space, not once winking, not
even thinking. You can not do that in America, where trolley-cars whiz
and blizzards blow--there is no precedent for it in things animate or
inanimate. In the United States everything is on the jump, art included.

Rembrandt Harmens worked in his father's mill, but never strained his
back. He was healthy, needlessly healthy, and was as smart as his
brothers and sisters, but no smarter, and no better looking. He was