Ellsworth American., 1876-06-01

! IL IS calleu lace.
| In front. the shining canal is spanned BY
a gray old bridge hung with ivy. One ru,
ined, dark tower rises up among the sun
gilded trees, and the canal stretches out
until 1t IS lost among the LEAKAGE of its
shore, and gl.des onward to the coast where
the great ssa-tights were.
| Somewhere among the green woods and
fields of Bruges there rang, in the oldeu
tRe, the sharp note of a horn. and close
| upon 1.-THE wild cry of human agony. They
were hunting In the forest the lords and
ladies of the court of Charles the Bold and
among them his daughter Mary OF
Burgundy. The game was started
they pressed fiercely after, and iu the
thick OF the chase the princess fell
from her horse. That night mass was
said In Bruges for the soul OF Mary of Bur.
gundy.
What wonder that over all the pleasan,
| cUuInIy vs n,uEes There h~pSs vague
mournfulness which walls throug h the trees
of its water-shores. aud turks like ghosl
| in the depths OF its canals?
| Even the kermesse, the noisy peoples
feast OF Flanders, seemed softened bv the
| memory of that old-time sadness There
| is deep. latent harmony in the nature OF
things.
The most national institution of Belgium
is the KermesSe. Every city In the land
| has its grand annual celebration, and. pri-
marily, | oelieYe the kermesse to have
| been tradition attached to the foundation
or consecration of an individual church
| There are kermesses OF all sizes from the
! cavalcades and professions OF Antwerp
| aud Brussels, which involve preparations
OF months, and are treated as matters OF
government interest. downto the assem-
a. ko. ~. 4.
crops up OF tine afternoon in every small
village or surburb.
This Kermesse Of Bruges, small though
il were. was brilliant patch OF color and
life in the shadow-haunted streets. Bright
! streamers were floating among the trees
peasants and townspeople were moving
Among the little gay booths, which had
looking glasses set in them, where the
crowd saw itself reflected and piles Of
giLied gingerbread lying in glory before
them. Into sundry OF them the people en-
tered and sat in little cells about small Ia
bles and eyed the great pots bubbling with
fat and watched with anxiety the hot fried
potatoes that issued from them. We sat
and ate with the rest, and took our plates
from the hands OF the little quck-eyed
restless Wailoon in his white jacket and
studied the ceiling, which was brilliant
Win litrIDts VI Ilt~NN dHNl -''N' It>-tH anu
symbols OF music and war, and had been
done. said the host, by poor wretch OF q
strolling painter.
There i, no kernesse below to-da7" "
remarke the little Walloon, with sigulti-
cant grin; praise the Virgin for III
What 10 you mean?' we asked.
..Ouly. mesdames, when it rains and the
sun shines. the Flemings say there is K,r-
messe enter. they are stupid souls
ike their own cattle
He was no Fleming and he thanked
Heaven for ii. He belonged to that fiery,
dark eyed Latin race that dweis on tie
border, OF France, and sends up its chr-
dren to Antwerp aud Brussels to Oe great
u IA. I aud science.
In the middle oil the ground was a pavi.-
lon painted red and blue, aud starred with
golden orbS Within, score ol wooden
hor-r, paved the ground. gray, and pied,
aud brown. aud white, with iiery cye,,
arrh-d no>iriis. tails that swept 70 the lr
heels, Their trappinSs were gorgeous, II
somewhat musty. Their nucleus WAS Il
pillar, brave in red dalna,k, which had the
royal family glued on at intervals about It's
squat person.
A man performed violently on wheezy
cornet-a melody fast, aud loud, and spirit
ed, and soul-stirrng. Ruddy faced chill
dreu came forward, one after another, aud
mounted the fiery chargers with proud
consciousness Of being looked at.
The music grows wilder and wilder the
horses start of at tull speed, fre flashes
fierce from their eyes, their faxen m"nes
sweep the air in superb lawlessnrss, and
the faces OF the riders are no longer DIM
dent and se!fconscious, but shine all over
with rapture and ecstasy and the glow OF
their yellow hair, and they are no longer
the irecklrd schosi-children you thought,
but young princes and prlnctsses following
the chaseiin the green woods oi BRUCE. and
proud queens OF France entering the city
IN triumph. aud knights riding hy at the
head OF their leige Flemish sossals. Faster
, and faster The train whIrls along silks, ANA
velvets, and waving plumes. The music
| shri-ks. aud thunders, and commands.
| You say 1t comes but from the Iunso OF a
sallow-faced man IN a patched Goa. Itell
thee. thou realst, that he wears green vel
vet and white plumrs aud blows on gold
| en- horn and his music IS the voice OF rock ;
and uales. and woods. and war, and poe~y
| And they know it, those young children.
| | would lay their lusigh aud vision again
! thine.
| How they wave their hands AID tus
| their heads, and laugh aloud Tor deli sht
| Falryland draws nearer aud nearer. See
| the domes are all rosy aud gold One mo-
/ ment more! On, on, brave steed, We mus
| be there before night, or the wizard and
the witch Will waylay US in the forest. Or
} Bayard, thou brave steed. On, courage,
for am Renaud, one of the brave four 0
Montauban, and the paladlns wait where
! the crossroads meet. The princess wait'
| in the enchanted castle for her deliverer
| On. on.
| o horror! the music steps, and the prln
cess must wait and weep forevermore.
The children alight with dreamy, faref
| look. Small wonder. They have been il
| the green woods of the A.deunes witt
gnomes and elves, in the haunted glades o
the Luxembourg, in the iiiry-rings OF Bra
bant. wherever the Old folklore of Bel
GUM is hidden away in the fancie, OF it,
children.
Those paltry tinselea mouiins are the epi
tome and abstract of all the sprndor anG
| mayniiicence of pomp and rcvcl, of process
sion aud cavalcade, that make the history
oi Flanders one vast page OF color. rec
ogniHr in them the whole beautiful nation
al lite OF centuries.
On The other side of the greeRsward, in
the estaminet OF John Van Eyck, sat sturdy
blue .froched peasants drinking the pale
yellow beer of Louvain. The sunlight s;ol,
through the green lattice over the rude ia
bles, and a dark-eyed, sad-fsced boy--som,
poor, lost Italian soul-stood among thos'
yellow haired Flemings and coaxed from
his worn violin waltz as sweet and dream,
rs the rose -boughs that droop low under
the willows into the pensive waterways o
Bruges.
One by enc the people withdrew from
the Hermesse-gIOund. A little way bacI
in the town we entered q high carved gat
where saints and martyrs and demon
crouched together under one OF the thre
great towers of Bruges. The bells abov,
were ringing over the echoing canals, lou
and fast and sweet and petulant Unde
the great pale Gothic arches the air wa
dusky with sunlight and incense. Grim
son and purple clouds lay on the Pavemen
from the garments of the holy men in tn
stained windows. On the walls were pit
lures that came Of the school of Rubens-
dashes Of scarlet and gold with bold head
Of horses and camels.
The dusk of the incense melted into tn
twilight. Women with great black cloaI
floating about them, and wide hoods fall
ing over their faces glided by like phar