1912-13] HOLLAND 47 



on Oct. 4, for that is the day on which many years ago when 

 Holland went to war against Spain, and the people were dying 

 of the black plague brought on by starvation in a 131 days' 

 siege — relief came in the form of provisions from North Hol- 

 land. These provisions consisted chiefly of herrings and bread, 

 so, on the 4th of October, the people have those two articles of 

 food as the principle feature of their Thanksgiving dinner table. 

 Mrs. Peck spoke of Rembrandt, and slides were thrown on 

 the screen, showing his home in Leiden, his wife, Saskia, and 

 many of his famous pictures. At the time when Rembrandt 

 was just beginning to turn his talent to practical purposes 

 the guilds of the little town in which he lived had a fad of 

 having their portraits painted and hung in the town hall. 

 Most of these portraits were painted showing the members of 

 the guild standing in a straight row, and if the guild was a 

 particularly large one, they were painted in two rows, one row 

 of heads showing behind the other. But Rembrandt was 

 daring, and when he painted the portrait of the Surgeons' 

 Guild, he gave a new phase of the art of painting lifelike and 

 natural portraits; he placed the members of the Guild about 

 a dead body, and showed that famous Dutch doctor. Tout, in 

 the centre, discoursing upon the partly dissected hand and 

 wrist of the body before them, while his colleagues looked on 

 interestedly. This portrait made Rembrandt famous, and for 

 a long time he was the most busy artist of all Holland, that 

 land of the artist. But his downfall was caused by a later 

 portrait, ''The Night Watch." This portrait, painted of the 

 soldiers of Leiden, was the cause of great disappointment among 

 the most of those who posed for the portrait, and only the 

 captain and lieutenant felt that they got their money's worth 

 out of the portrait. The rest of the gi'oup were thrown into a 

 shadow. This failure on the part of Rembrandt to come up to 

 his usual standard of accuracy and perfection lost him many 

 valuable friends and customers, then his beloved wife, Saskia, 

 died, poverty followed, and last he himself died of disappoint- 

 ment and starvation. Many of the audience were disappointed 

 because Mrs. Peck did not show many slides of the flowers of 



