Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-08-28
From Our Regular Correspondent
The Field Of Waterloo.

Perhaps the reason why the field oil
Waterloo is so impressive is because there
is nothing left to indicate the terrific strlfes
and mighty deslinies that were decided
there Nothing but huge bronze lion in
whose open mouth bird has built its nest.
The visitor stands alone in the midst oil
portentious memories. undistracted by the
inadequate monuments with which men
have essayed to mark less important eli
makes and anti-climaxes in the affIirs of
nations.
If " General Bonaparte," rs the English
guides about Waterloo persist in calling
him, had been favored with the fine wealth.
err that your correspondent had on his visit,
he would have opened the engagement
five hours earlier. his artillery would not
have stuck in the mud, and he would have
perhaps annihilated Wellington before the
Prussian came to his assistance. If the
abundant harvest that stands on the field
to-day had been there then, neither army,
even if they had been all cavalry, need
have been encountered or weakened by
subsistence or foraging trains.
No field could appear less favored by
nature for vantage of contending armies.
The slight elevation occupied by the Eng
lish was naturally no stronger than that,
hree- quarters of mile distant, held by
the French. Neither elevation was high
enough, nor was the intervening or sur
onuxuharn q
to prevent the rapid easy movement, in
any direction, of infantry, cavalry and ar
tillery. The separately contested walled
garden of Hugemont was strong only in
the fortitude of the men who held it.
We started from Brussels at 8. A. NJ,
taking an excursion ticket for Braine /
Attend, which is the railway station near
est the field, and only forty minutes ride
from Begium's capital. This a cheaper.
more comfortable, and much quicker way
to see the field than the route frequently
taken by diligence from BRUSSELS. Arriv
ing at Braine i Attend, we started on foot
for the field and were soon encountered
by numbers of small boys with pockets
full of bullets which they were willing to
sell cheap. Genuine relies are still occa-
sionally turned up by tho pillow. they are,
however, becoming very lare; but the
supply of bullets. scraps of shell, buttons
ETC., in the hands of these little peddlers OF
he field is never exhausted. met three
women who were able to carry on the
traffic in three languages; each of them
hal basket containing Photographic
views of the field, and relics which they
we're trying to sell; when | expressed
loubt of the commences of the relics, they
battered me by saying that | had no green
my eve and before could recover from
he sweetness of that surprise. piled mt
with their photographs. My friend bought
bullet. for four cents, which he dropped
on the field and picked up again in order
o make it more plausible and interesting
There is constant stream Of visitors to
Waterloo. We met on top the mound thai
IS surmounted by the bronze lion English,
Germans and BelgiaEs, but more Ameri-
cans than of any other nationality. The
number of Americans travelling on
he continent this year must be
very large. have met them on almost
every train in France, Belgium, SwilZer-
land, Germany, Holland and England.
They are all more or less homesick. The
lirst questions are, when did you arrive and
when will you return? The general ver-
lict is, that Europe will do to visit but that
t is not country to live in. OF course
his is nothing but the old refrain of every
exile, whether his native land be Alaska
II Florida. There is no place like home,
md he must be Bohemian indeed whC
will not sometimes long for the repose
which no one can find amid strange I'M
sympathetic faces, and manners, dress
customs and ideas, different from those o.
IF his fathers. But think there is some
hing more than prejudice and mere love
# home that makes Americans prefer theil
own country. Else why is it that our nat
lralized citizens, who have spent then
youth, or perhaps earlier manhood, on this
side, express the same sentiment and art
Us ANXIOUS to return 10 the new world ii!
those of us who have been but few week.
IN the old? 1t is because it is II new world
great and notle field for reiuvenatet
humanity. If II high protective tatfr
could have been long ago imposed upoi
some of the manners, habits, institutions
laws and ideas that have been imported
from Europe we would have had more
reason to admire the wisdom OF the found
rrs. But our country, IN spite Oh liliporll
lions, is so much freer and fresher, our lif
and aspirations so much broader and high
er that All Denmark is II prison to hin
That thinks it So"
began to write about Waterloo but &C
off on i'm old refrain. | trust the reade
will pardon me for not describing Huge
mont, the road of Chain and other point
of this much bewritten field. He will fin
them all in history or encyclopedias
Victor Hugo in his Les Miserables h0
written his best and most chaotic descrI
ton of the battle. The entire field is no,
covered with dense ripe growth of whea
oats and clover, while Il bird has built il
nest in the open mouth of the rampant lilo
with which the British have crowned ii
tumui of their dead. c. A. S.