Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-10-17
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EUROPEAN LETTER.
BELGIUM.
From our own oorresnondsnt,

from our own Correspondent.
The horrors Of the passage from
England to the continent have never
been overestimated. The route from
London to Flushing, in Holland, is
better now than at our former pas
sage, for new and better steamers ply
between the places. Anis year, how
ever, there has been so much more
travel than usual that even the new
boats are overcrowded The passage
is made in the night and in the early
morning the low shores of Holland
are in sight and two hours later our
steamer is between the entertainments
OF the Scheldt. We can just see the
church spires and chimneys of houses
over the dykes, which indicates that
the river level is a dozen feet above
the streets of the city. Taking cars
for Antwerp we at once realize that
we are in foreign country.
The strange gutteral Dutch and old
Flemish which seems to fill the air
around US, the dykes extending far as
the eye can reach, the squatty, tile
covered houses, the bitches and rows
Of trees which take the place of fences
the little patches of different kinds OF
grain which seem to fly by as the
train moves along, and most of all,
the short, broad, big footed women,
wearing wooden shoes, doing most OF
the work in the fields, are all So diff
ferent from what we see at home that
the traveller cannot but be greatly in
terested. The crops grown are large,
ly wheat, barley and potatoes. No
cattle are in sight pasturing as land
here is too valuable. Most of the an
lmal labor here is done by cows OF
donkeys. Careful cultivation and
economy of land is especially notice.
able. No spot large enough to raise
hill of potatoes even is uncultivated
and grass is harvested almost up tc
the track of the railroad.
As we near Antwerp the dykes are
not so high and finally disappear and
there is occasionally low hin. We
at length pass through heavy FORTH
cations and enter Antwerp, which al
though it has experienced the many
vicissitudes OF varied fortune is now
on tho whole the most important city
of Belgium. In the 10th century 1t
was the most wealthy and prosperous
city on the continent, surprising even
| Venice. 1t received its death blow
commercially, in the wars with Spain
Driving from the depot to our hote
we see strange things on every side
of us. The great draft horses which
we pass celebrated the world over
have immense collars running up to a
| point two feet above the horses
| shoulders, while the traces are gen.
orally made of ropes Small loads are
drawn by cows, donkeys, men and
women and frequently by dogs. A
team of five dogs drew cart OF wood
which would be called by an Ameri-
can farmer good load for one horse
Most of the streets particularly of the
old city, are narrow and winding.
The upper stories Of the houses fire..
quently project over the lower, and
at the corners OF the streets there are
| often little shrines built into the sec
ond stories OF the houses. Artistical-
ly, Antwerp is famous as the birth,
place of the artist, Van Dyck, as one
of the several places in which it is
claimed Reubens was born, and as
| the center of the celebrated Flemish
| School of Art, which in the 10th aud
18th centuries was of worldwide re.
pute. Like every continental city oil
the least pretensions, Antwerp has q
cathedral dating back for its founda.
ton to 400 or 500 years ago, good
assortment of churches which the
traveller is compelled to visit or be
| considered lunatic, and museums
and so-callcd art galleries sufficient to
worry the life out of the average mar
if he consents to see them all. The
cathedral contains Reuben's far famed
master piece, the Descent from the
Cross which ranks among the first
three or four paintings in the world.
The museum, the finest art gallery in
Belgium, contains GOO pictures, a
number of them by Reubens and Var
DICK. Nearly all the paintings are
ancient and have mostly been taken
from the suppressed monasteries.
If the traveller generously gives /
day to the museum be will go through
at the rate of five pictures in three
minutes which will just about give
him time 10 find the name in the cat
alogue and the picture on the wall