The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-11-22
THE SUNDAY MORNING NEWS. NOVEMBER e. 1881.

there! I suppose you English live in the
midst Of culture, - il were. and car get
20 it all right away at any time; SO, per-
hape, you don't think quite as much Of
II ~ we do. who have 10 "a up our
money. perhaps for years. to get. for
once in our lives. just a single passing
glimpse Of it. You live at Cambridge,
you see; you must be stepped in culture,
right down to the finger ends"
Bernard modestly responded, twirling
his manly mustsche, that the river and
the running ground. he feared, were
more in his way than art or architec-
ture.
and where else did you go besides
Englandg~ Lucy asked really interested.
"Well, ma'am, from London we went
across by Ostend TO Bruges, where l
studied the Meanings and made a few
little copies from them" Melissa an
swered, with her sunny smile. "It's
such a quaint old place. Bruges. Life
seems 10 fiow as stagnaut as its own
canals. Have you eve been there?'
'.Oh, charmingr' Lucy answered;
most delightful and quiet. Butter
who are the Msmlings. Idon't quite
recollect them"
Melissa gazed at her, open eyed. 1.-THE
MemlingsT she said slowly; why, you've
missed the best thing at Bruges il you
haven't seen them. They've such a
naive charm Of their own, SO innocent
and sympathetic. They're in the Hop
ital de st. Jean, you know, where Mem
ling put them. And it is 20 delightful
to see great pictures like those-though
they're tiny little things to look atm
their native surroundings, exactly as
they were first painted; the Chase de
Ste. Ursule, and all those other lovely
things, so ~infsntile in their simplicity,
and yet 80 exquisitely graceful and pure
and beautiful. don't know as l saw
anything in Europe to equal them for
pathos in their own way, except, Of
course, the Fra Angelicos at San Marco
in Florence"
II don't think I've seer them" Lucy
murmured, with an uncomfortable air.
| could see it was just dawning upon
her, in spite of her pa~tronizing, that this
Yankee girl, with her imperfect COM
mand Of the English tongue, knew a
vast deal more about some things worth
notice than she herself did. ''And where
did you go then, dearY'
''Oh, from Bruges we went on to
Client" Melissa answered, leaning back
and looking as pretty as a picture herself
in her sweet little travelling dress, "to
see the great Van Eyck, the Alteration
of the Lamb you know-that magnif-
cent panel picture. And then we went
to Brussels, where we had Derrick Bouts
and all the later Jennings; and to Ant
werp, for Rubens and Vandyke and
Quintin Matsys; and The Hague after
that, for Rembrandt and Paul Potter;
and Amsterdam in the end, for Van der
Helst and Gerard Dow, and the late
Dutch painters. SO, you see, we had
quite an artistic tour-we followed up
the development of Netherlandish art,
from beginning to end. in historical or
der. 1t was just delightful"
II went to Antwerp once" Bernard
put in, somewhat sheepishly, still twirl-
ing his mustache; "but it was on my
way to Switzerland; and / didn't see
much, as far as l can recollect, except
the cathedral and the quay and the hotel
| was stopping at"
"Ah, that's all very well for you"
Melissa answered, with a rather envious
air. "You can see these things any day.
But for us the chance comes only once
in a lifetime, and we must make the
most of it."