The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-08-07
BY Miss Cora Gayer.

By Miss Cora Gayer.
We are now at Antwerp, and an awful.
ly quaint place it is. We left London on
Friday morning FOR Harwick; took the
boat there an hour later. We both went
to bed before the boat started, and when
l awakened we were coming up the river
Scheldt. To us the view was very inter-
esting. On either bank were high dykes
TO keep out the sea. We could only see
the tops of houses and of trees beyond the
dykes. OF course we could not see how
wide nor how high they were, as they
sloped down and we're all grass covered.
Outside Of the dykes was quite little
strip Of ground and sand grown with
grass. They fence in little patches Of
sand at low tide with willow withes and
stones. Then when the tide comes in it
leaves deposit Of sand behind; after
awhile they make their wicker fences
gradually higher until only very high
tide will carry away their sand. Then
the grass grows and the sea has been
cheated of another little strip of land,
The channels Of the creeks flowing to the
sea are closed at the dykes with locks like
canals. We reached Antwerp about 10;
the custom officers came on deck and
looked at our baggsge and put mark on
II. When we got Off we got into cab on
which II said Hotel de la Paix. When we
got there the proprietor met us at the door
and seemed real glad to see us. A porter
took us TO our room and we were settled.
We each pay go cents day for our room.
What the meals cost / don't know: il
seems to depend on what we eat. don't
care; We can stand It for two days, and
we get enough to eat anyway, which is
more than l can say for anytime since l
left home. Tney seemed to have SO little
of everything in London. No matter
what called for or paid for ii was 80 lit
tie. To-day We had our first European
grand table de hoie. II was in nine
courses; the plates, knives and forks were
changed every time. First course, soup;
End, mushrooms (these we're stewed with
gravy and we're in what thought q lit
lie pastry tart. l was going to eat the
whole thing down, but l saw the others
only ate the contents and left the tarts 10
be taken away. Third course, fish and
egg salad; 4th, roast beef with stuffed Gu
cumber; 9Th, chicken with sauce; 9th,
chops and string beans 7th, duck and
watercress; 9Th, some kind Of a fruit ice;
9th, melon. / don't want another meal
TOR long time now. / thought, perhaps,
you would be as interested In a grand
meal as anything / could describe. Ant
werp looks as though It had stood since
before the food. We were goose enough
TO climb TO the top Of the cathedral, but
when we got there, we had TO hang our
selves on peg in the wall so as to look out
Of the opening. ofcourse you could see
only little bit at q time. However,
suppose we will keep on climbing every
tower we come to. The cathedral is fine,
but does not compare with those we saw
In London. The streets are very narrow
and crooked. In the new part are some
very wide streets, with six rows Of trees;
before some Of the cafes are tables and
seats that take up all the sidewalk and
half the street. The streets are not need
ed much for teams. / have seen only
hired cabs and few wagons with low
front wheels and the body Of the wagon
very low down, almost on the ground.
We see carts showed by men or women or
drawn by dogs. The streets and side
walks are Of cobble stones mainly. Sol
diers are very plenty; they all look so
young and rather sorry. They don't make
as good impression as the English sol
1iers do; they look as II they owned the
earth and had II baked 10 suit The men
here are mostly quite small many women
90 around bareheaded. English isunder-
stood nearly everywhere, so is German.
French and Flemish is spoken regularly.
Yesterday we wanted TO find our bank to
iraw some Belgian money. BY the way,
hey use French and Italian money and
English, TOO, here. / wrote the name Of
he bank on card and the hotel man told
Us how to get there; but, dear me, when
vc had turned dozen corners or two, we
didn't know ourselves anymore. 80 !
'howed my card TO policeman, who very
politely told me all about It; but, Of
course, didn't understand word. l
tared at.him helplessly and then had to
augh. He laughed, too. and motioned US |
o follow him and took us 10 the place.
we concluded to rent small
10Y to go with us and find US when we |