Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1883-02-23
CITIES OF BELGIUM.
Brussels and Antwerp, and their
Many attractions,
Pleasantly Described for the Readers
ct the Democrat.

Pleasantly Described for the Readers
ct the Democrat.
The Field OF the Battle Of Waterloo
Visited.
Brussels was charming because it was 50 much
like smaller Paris The architecture the shops,
the plan of the city, the bouleyaris the park
adjoining the palace, the people and
their speech. everything seemed to carry q
suggestion OF Paris Sill there was a difference
which grew in size as our stay was heightened.
and il made Brussels not less pleasing to US, We
carried away many pleasant thoughts of the
brilliant little city, ofour delightful hotel the
handsome boulevard, and of the enjoyable even
ing concerts in the gaslit gardens of the park.
To US is most interesting building was the
Hotel de Vile. so rich in sculpture and deli
cate details, and situated on one side Of
market square which for stately medieval pic
| ruresqueness has not its equal. It was a fine
sight one morning when we visited it to find it
filed with market people who in quaint garb
sold.vegetahles and Fruit and eha.;ed in Flemish
| French, however, is the language taught in
schools and is spoken by almost all Belgians, al
7
classes in their Intercourse with each other. II
was noticeable in Brussels that the laborers and
poor people generally wore wooden shoes in
each case with q wealth Of darned stockings
quite astonishing. In Paris wooden shoes were
comparatively rare.
We visited the picture gallery, which is very
fine one, with the best collection we had seen
since leaving Munich. We also visited the
Wiertz gallery containing the works of the artist
| of that name, who was a very eccentric genius
with decided taste for the horrible His Largest
| pictures seemed like CHASTITY Nightmares, yet
with wonderful power Ia them. One picture es-
pecially hard to forget aud seen through peep
hole. represented corpse getting out of coffin;
| another more pleasing but painted with equal
realism, represented pretty girl leaning out of
q window offering a rose to the person looking at
the picture.
| The cathedral of Ste Gudule, the Notre Dame
of Brussels, is a very imposing and handsome
church as it looks down its steep approach. tits
especially rich in stained glass, and the interior
| is covered with costly monuments and carvings.
In the neighborhood of the cathedral tourists arc
besieged by guides and other men anxious to
show where the famous Brussels lace is made
Those of our party who visited the lace houses
| came back with pitiful accounts of the poor wo-
men who nearly blinded by their delicate worA
were tolling with their pillows close to their
weakened eyes. 1t is estimated that $50, 020 wo-
men in Belgium are thus employed, generation
after generation being thus devoted to this most
delicate of laces which in the United States goes
, under the name of point"
The field of the battle of Waterloo is generally
visited from Brussels, and therefore we one
morning drove past the house of which Byron
wrote There was sound of revelry by night"
aud took the train for Braine L Alleud, whence
we walked to the celebrated battle field now as
peaceful as can be imagined. 1t was singular
but of the people who alighted from the train on
the same object bent all were Americans. With
plan and without the assistance, or rather an
noyance of any guides, although we had hard
work in getting rid of them, we were able to fol-
low the course of the battle and fix to our salts
faction the places on the now smiling fields
where Napoleon and Wellington stood, and
where Butcher made his timely entree. The
mound surmounted by lion which marks the
spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded,
commands fine view of the entire field, and
Hougomont with its famous well, and La Haye
doubted whether there islany truth in the story Of
the sunken roadway filed in with the dead and
wounded which Victor Hugo so dramatically en-
ploys in his account of the battle given in LES
Miserables' The soil in the neighborhood is very
deep however, snd we walked through one road !
way worn down at least twenty feet be- |
low the surface. Little boys and girls |
followed us about with photographs |
and bullets the latter said to be found in |
the fields. With the exception of few photo |
graphs we preferred corn-howers and peoples to |
spurious bullets reminders of the famous field.
We rested at the Hotel du Musee, which contains |
a good collection of relics of every kind and is
kept by an old Englishwoman whose father had
been in the battle. Her bar-room was very |
English with its sanded floor, beer engine long |
clay pipes and general odor of stale beer instead
of the sour wine we had grow so used to. She as
sured us she had American generals there nearly |
every day. One very unusual sight we saw daily |
in front of our hotel at Brussels. At the hour |
when the cafe was most frequented a girl would |
wheel slowly by perambulator in which were |
triplets all precisely alike and hardly more than
month old. A plate in which those SO disposed |
could drop money was placed at the children's |
feet.
From Brussels we went to Antwerp arriving |
there about nine O'Clock on Saturday night and |
finding the hotels crowded and extensive prepa- |
ratons being made for the procession which |
the next day to go through the principal |
streets. The rooms given us at our hotel over |
looked the Place Verte in which there was |
great crowd of people listening to the open air |
concerts given by the military bands. Until |
nearly midnight we listened to the music so |
splendidly played, the tnkling chimes in tie |
cathedral tower playing every few minutes and |
all through the night haunting us. No chimes |
that / have ever heard can compare with those |
at Antwerpt. They seem so high in the air, and |
especially at night have such weird fairy-like |
sound One is forced to think of them playing |
year in and year out, playing thoughtlessly |
when soldiers were fiercely fighting at the cathe
dral doors, as now when Belgium is prosperous
and has no thought of blood shed.
Early next morning was down aud went to |
the cathedral before breakfast. In the daylight
/ could see the exquisite tower which Napoleon
compared to Mechlin lace, which acts as guide
to the sailors out at sea- and which from a
height of over 400 feet looks down on quaint old
Antwerp.
the centre was alive with people, and the side
next the cathedral was fairly carpeted with huge
fat bouquets of the handsomest flowers.
The roses in the flower market at Brussels
were eclipsed by the display at the cathedral
door, Antwerp. These flowers we're for sale and
for use in the grand procession which took
place at noon, and which think was in honor
of the Virgin Mary. After breakfast we entered
the cathedral and saw the chef d'oeuvre of Ru-
bens and the glory of Antwerpt-the celebrated
painting, THE Descent from the Cross" The
cathedral is rich in Rubens works, including
his elevation OF the Cross" and there are other
famous paintings in the different chapels but all
are secondary when compared with the master
piece. That dim old cathedral with Its exqui-
site glass and carvings and its crowd of deyout
worshlpers, many of them in all the picturesque
array Of the Walloon and Flemish peasantry was
an Impressive sight. The singing was very fine.
As we stepped out into the daylight through the
principal portal we found ourselves in front Of
the well immortalized by its wrought iron COW
ering, the work OF Quentin Matsys, the celebrated
blacksmith painter, and made in 1923. II is a
beautiful piece of metal-work.