The record-union., 1897-09-26

| dropped in later, to be so besieged by
the waiter girls and surrounded by
/ them and talked to, that we conclud-
I ed they We're the owners or managers
of the place. Within the next half
hour several girls (probably mattresses
in stage clothes) sang French songs on
the stage, and we gave them what lit
tie encouragement we could in the way
! of applause. But that was only hol-
low mockery for we were almost alone
in a hall large enough to hold 1000
or 5000 people.
We were filled with thankfulness that
we had selected a really high-grade
performance, which gave me an op-
portunity to learn something of the
state of dramatic art in Belgium. 1t
was While listening to the enchanting
music of the sylphs' that l read a brief
account of the early days of Antwerp.
1t is one of the Oldest towns in North
ern Europe, if my French writer is to
be believed. In five hundred and some
thing the Saxons founded it on the
ruins of a Roman fOrtifcation, and
gave it the name which it still bears.
Three centuries later the NornanS took
| it and fortified it, and part of their
work is still standing in the Steen,
l 900 years Old Then in time the Nor
mans disappeared and Antwerp be-
came the Capital City of a Marquisate
of the Holy Empire, belonging to the
Duchy of Brabant.
Before the year 1850 Antwerp had
125, GOO inhabitants. and was the finest
city in Christendom. About that year
began a long series of political and re-
Hgious wars, in which the worst Incl
dent was what is called the Spanish
Fury" There is a monument in the
town to commemorate it. The Spanish
soldiers who held the place We're not
paid for nearly two years, and they
mutined and sacked the city. Seven
thousand people lost their lives, and
the financial loss was $40,000000.
That put an end to the business of
Antwerp for a long time, and by 1890
the population had fallen to 10000. Ma
poleon tried to revive it without sue
cess, and it was not until it became a
part of the Kingdom of the Neither
lands, about 1916, that it's commerce
began to return. In 1886 the first rail-
way on the Continent was built be-
tween this city and Brussels.
Next to the wiping out of navigation
dues on the River Scheldt, which made
Antwerp a free port, the city owes it's
present beauty and prosperity to Bur
gomaster Van Put, who in 1868 tore
away the old Notifications and made
broad boulevards in their places, in
creasing the size of the place skiold.
The new Belgian fortifications, which
are very large and strong, are much
further out.
1 doubt whether any city in Europe
of similar size has more fine, wide,
shady avenues lined with more artistic
and substantial houses. The streets
are as clean as a floor. perhaps because
it is principally women who do the
cleaning. The official street cleaners
are men, but it is women who really
do the work They go out in the morn
ing a woman in front of nearly every
house. and sweep the street with big
brooms, and then turn on the hose till
the stones fairly shine.
THE WHARFTNG SYSTEM
The two things that Antwerp particu-
ularly prides itself upon are it's artistic
treasures and its Wharves. And the
wharf arrangements are an example by
which almost any city in the world
might profit. Here is the river front
of the city, say a mile long, built up
with solid stone Wharves, with deep
enough water for ocean steamers Then
a railway track on shore between the
wharf and the warehouses for carry
ing goods from one warehouse to an
other. Then the warehouses, and on
the land side of them more tracks, for
freight trains to deliver or take away
goods Then a stout iron fence, shut
ting in the whole working part, which
is 200 or $50 feet broad. And along a
considerable part of this mile of
wharves is a raised stone terrace, broad
and smooth, built for a promenade.
Here in the cool of the summer twi-
light the AntWerpers walk and look
down upon the decks of ships and
across the river at the rich green fields.
1t is a beautiful idea, and l think en-
tirely unique
The artistic side of Antwerp we shall
see something about when we come to
explore a few interiors. Saying any
thing about great paintings, I imagine.
would be q delicate matter for a man
who processes no technical knowledge
of that form of art. But with such
pictures as these of Rubens a man
needs no special knowledge. They are
not great because they are Rubens',
but because they are great. A man
with sufficient art in his soul to dis
tinguish a painting from a firecracker
wrapper can pick them out in a mo-
ment And they stir him up like mar
tial music, and he stands long to ad-
mire them and wonder at them.-Will-
lam Drysdale, Antwerp correspondent
New York Times.