Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-08-12

must consider an indignity; but the VIC
men do not think it a hardship to worl
in the fields On the contrary, in thes
French Northern country towns, the,
drive their daughters afield at as earl
an age as possible, and keep them ther,
from early dawn until late at night, unit
marriage brings them under the hus
band subsection.
PEcUL1ARITIEs OF LIFE IN BELGIUM
Belgium is country where blessing
and "cusses " for the people are very
equally distributed. | have elsewhere
alluded to the fact that about one II
eight of its population is pauper; and
there seems to be an immense deal Of
misery for section which has made
such substantial advances toward rea
liberty. Many of the towns in this
country are cursed by the pleasure-lov
ing character of their inhabitants, who
seem to delight in festivals even more
than their French neighbors At the
first station at which we arrived this
time, beyond the frontier, every one was
dressed in their best clothes. Shops
were shut, although proper business hours
were not over, and the whole village
seemed bound for the next town. The
French employe on our train grumbled.
Oui, it is Kermesse at Mons (the neigh
boring city, this evening, and all these
people will do no more work for week T"
Kermesse is given up to very decided
carousal, in which Belgian greatness is
celebrated with the most absurdly gor-
geous ceremonies Kermesse and cleo
ton time had come together on this
occasion. / have been surprised du-
ring my stay in Belgium to see how
little interest the common people
take in the politics of the coun-
try although they concern them
deeply The Catholic and Liberal par
ties are the principal divisions-the first,
of course, as usual, studying to keep the
workman down, in as much ignorance
and as superstitious as possible the
other endeayoring to build him up The
liberal laws concerning the press permit
dozens of little papers to flourish both
here and at Antwerp and other large
towns. These papers are modelled on
the French plan, save that they, of
course, speak freely on politics, and they
cost little less than half cent, They
are printed mainly in the French Ian
guage, although the Flemish population
has its journals, too, and they circulate
considerably. These would interest the
workmen sufficiently TO lead them to vote,
but there is a very substantial barrier
of money-to the free exercise of the
ballot by the lower classes. The poll
tax, or the sum corresponding to it,
amounts, in all, to eight dollars per head,
and this, in country where cigar costs
centime and railway fare less than
cent mile, is good round sum. A re
duction of the tax on opium is one Ofthe
reforms promised The struggles be-
tween the Catholics and Liberals some
times lead to outbreaks on the part of
the workmen, which are dangerous to
commercial interests and which throw
the country into confusion for the time
being.
Brussels is sometimes called "minia-
ture Paris" but it is no more like Paris
than New York. Neither does it impress
me as French town. There is per-
ceptible difference as soon as one crosses
the frontier The Belgian accent in
French is thicker, more rotund, and has
twang attached where in French there
is none. Once arrived at Brussels, how
any one can fail to distinguish the differ
ence between it and French town
cannot imagine Brussels takes its
name from an ugly old saint, who dis
gusted with humanity in general, and
himself in particular, came, ages ago, to
live on this seedy, muddy island in the
bed of the river Seine. He got into the
calendar by mistake, and his hermitage
and tho fact that there were marsh weeds |
about il made it the name of Brussels
which the inhabitants of the little walled |
town that sprang up here afterwards,
used to employ as their war cry when |
they sailed out TO cut their neighbors /
throats. To-day Brussels is an immense, !
rambling city, of somewhat medieval |
aspect 1t perches on hill, so steep
that every carriage in the city has brakes |
on the wheels and does not venture into
the loger town on a wet day. The lower
section is very commercial and very
Flemish also. Il is far the most inter
esting part of Brussels, although resi-
dent strangers generally ignoreit. There
are some very fine architectural efforts,
such as one or two arcades, which ex-
ceed in beauty and grandeur anything in
Paris or London. The new Bourse, or
Stock Exchange, too, bids fair to rival
those Of much more important CONNER
eial centers.
One certainly hears as much Flemish
as French spoken in all these Relgian
towns. The Flemish IL a hurry-skurry
language, having, of course, decided
affinity with Nether-Dutch, just as the
people who speak it are more or less
Dutch in their habits and appearance
Most of the Flamands speak English
much more readily than French. They
are clean, steady, valiant race; indus
trious they would be, were it not that
they mNa ipcessantly remember that
" Belgium is great Rnd tree, and that
the holidays come so temptngiy 0heA.
The peasants are among the most agree
able looking in Europe; they are as mir
aculous in their personal cleanliness as
the Dgtch. The lower quarters of Brus-
sels are not al ;hat could be desired as
habitatiops for the yorSingAsR; bnt the
make them into perfectly ex-
emyisry bones. There is no fiuge Of
filthy English poverif, even IN the most
quarters OF Brussels Gr Ant /
Along the docks at Antwerp there
are no smells, no sights, no sounds, such
as one sees in Saxon countries Every /
Iiing il eminently respectable. ],
The Spanish qaaFter of the town is by !
far the most interestingI etSge oil, that {
section where stands the Hotel de Vile,
md the great square, around which are
grouped tho high-peaked fantastic Span
sh houses, grinIy aud Fithancieni traces {
IF struggle on them. Let US consider, {