Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-05-27
ANTWERP.
OUTSIDE AND INSIDE ITS wALLs-BtL-
CLAN CUSTOMS.
Gallery Of Paintings - Sketches from
the Lives OF Artists-The Man
who Paints with His Toes.

glimpse OF fIusnlug, as we saliSA up '"'
Scheldt river, but now that our ship lay
at anchor it afforded US our first good
square look at a strongly fortified city,
consequently we were filled with feelings
suitable for the occasion. The Gothic
spire of the grand old cathedral, whose
topping hight, Professor Springer tells us,
rather astonishes by its audacity than
delights by its beauty, rose up before US
like all all-seeing eye, high above the red
tiled roofs while the numerous smaller
spires at regular intervals seemed ready to
send along the alarm at the first signal OF
danger. How quiet and selfsatished
seemed this city of Antwerp, resting 50
securely on the banks of the river, shelter
ing its l73, 600 inhabitants while the sur
rounding and highly- cultivated country
promised everlasting support, How I'M
questionably the graceful spars OF the ships
Of all nations, harbored in the protecting
arms of its invulnerable stone docks,
testified to the enterprise and com
merce of this royal country
Richly.earned in this peace and
prosperity; for nobly she battled for her
rights till the morning Of June 4, 1881,
herslded over the world that Belgium was
an independent European power We
wondered if the ghostly spirit of the muir
| derous Alya ever winged its flight ever this
now peaceful city and realized, too late,
how utterly useless is tyranny when once
people are thoroughly aroused to sense
of their wrongs; or If the souls OF those
torture-loving inquisitors ever wrlthed and
groaned when they heard the excavations
with which the history OF their abomlnable
deeds is related. But what of its people /;
how have peace and prosperity effected
them? Do they live good and noble lives =?
| Still we unused, fearing to cross over the
| wall OF partition lest we find human nature
in that famous city OF peace and plenty,
that home OF painters, sculptors, carvers
and engravers, just as weak, just as sinful,
i as in our own new and less favored land.
How we love to linger over the mystical
| how we dread to rend the veil which sep
arates the known from the unknown. lest
our hopes, illusions and chimerical struct-
ure totter, fall or vanish "baseless as the
| fabric of vision"
CROSSING THE LINE OF PARTITION
| We consulted the guild book, which gave
/, the following points of interest "nOt to be
overlooked :" Museum of Paintings,
Bourse, Prison of the Inquisition, Hotel de
Vile, Kings Palace, Home of Rubens,
Cathedral Notre Dame, Quentin Massey
| well, market and churches, besides innum-
cradle other places. We decided to visit
| first OF all the Museum of Paintings, since
&" all cultivated travellers did so, we are
; told But / must notice a few OF the in
cidents and scenes by the way. 1t rained,
| of course, being in October, when the
clouds OF Belgium are ever ready to dis
pense their fayors. During the three weeks
| of our stay it never failed to rain three
| times a day, and once between meals. On
inquiring of gentleman what would be
the effect of such an outpouring upon the
crops, he replied, so, the extreme heat OF
the summer and the incessant rains of the
autumn have knocked the crops into a
cooked hat" Since it rained we donned
our India rubber ulsters, and took umbrel-
las. Why, anyone appearing on the streets
of Antwerp in autumn without his UNI
| brella would be set down for an escaped
| lunatic But, oh, those gossamsrs Never
did any travelling menagerie or circus at
tract more universal attention than they
and their unfortunate wearers on that
eventful day. Women stood stock still.
| but not with that "emotion when ex-
preston PASSES into silence" for they
| giggled, they mudged each other, they
chatted men signaled to their ueighbors
and in their outlandish Flemish jargon, We
now and then distinguish the word
domino Domino !'' Little boys
whistled and screamed some followed the
show, others leaned up against houses
and laughed till the tears rolled down their
cheeks. On inquiring, from persons who
had lived some years in Antwerp, the cause
of this warm reception, we learned
that the Belgians are exceedingly jealous
of their national habits and customs. Oar
rubber listers were something quite new
and strange to them. The only garment
| they wear corresponding to it, in any way,
is the black domino, worn at carnival
times; sequently to their eyes we
represented a masquerading party, entirely
out of season. We then considered that a
party of Belgians, suddenly appearing in
| the streets of one of our cities, shod In
great awkward wooden shoes, would per-
haps provoke quite as much merriment and
attract attention quite as universal.
BELGIAN CUSTOMS.
Men, women and children seemed to
wander up and down, cross and recross the
irregular streets, in apparently the most
aimless and disinterested manner. Women
and girls never without knitting in hand
and needles clicking in time to the clatter
of their wooden shoes. Besides her knit
ting every woman carried on her arm a
basket or reticule. This is made of tin
and is about the size and shape of a small
coal seuttle, with a fat two-inch handle
across the top. 1t is painted some bright
color, gaslight green being the favorite
shade, with a big bunch OF gayly colored
flowers on the front. The sidewalks in the
older part of the city are extremely mar
row, some of them being only about tive
feet wide. In trying to engineer myself
safely past very large woman, with a
very large reticule. l was brought to a
standstill. Upon close examination | found
| that mutual attachment existed between
| her reticule and some part of my cloak.
No serious damage was done, however, and
| soon extricated the vicious article and
pursued the even tenor Of my way, fol-
lowed by a volley of French blessings, l
suppose. But what variety of work the
Belgian women do! a stranger would al
most conclude that the men only under.
take what the women and the lean, limp,
lank, hungry dogs cannot do. Women tend
the stores, peddle milk, dig, spin, make