The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-07

eiicited so much interest that further expression from the same source has been obtained The following is a copy of a letter written by Mrs Rich ardson from Antwerp to friend in this city)
 Journeying East on an errand of an urgent nature. I had not. at the time. an idea of the pleasure that was later to be mine So the invitation which came to make trip abroad had the added charm of surprise. My friend. also. seemed to think to insure my interest by taking advantage of the mystery which she could so easily create. and not until going aboard the vessel did I know our intended destin- ation That we were to land at Ant werp was the crowning glory to my bright anticipations.
 In travelling. one likes to extract from the flying hours such sweets as can be absorbed from photographic glimpses of change of scene. life. peo- pie. dress and costume. The unique Dutch seemed to offer such opportn- mites. and indeed our hopes were more than realized. Nearing The Nether- lands. the odd Noah's Ark looking trees that seemed dattened against the horizon. like corkscrew trees of the nursery. the distant herds of cattle. the antediluvian crafts. the water of the Scheldt. 'greyest of grey rtvers." being held back by dikes from inund- ating a land that in summer is varie- gated with harvest of wheat and mar ketable vegetables-this was the new world that first greeted our eyes. So unlike anything in America. and in that strangeness lay it's charm. Did it resemble the pastoral scenery along the Mississippi or the Hudson. or the Detroit, we might as well have stayed at home.
 Here and there were faint and occa- siona1 glimpses of farm houses sur rounded by gardens and orchards. land over there the little brown town, some times so well hidden behind the dikes. that only the roofs of the buildings and the innumerable church steeples peeped out Beside each of these little hamlets was always an elaborate grave yard with the tombs above ground, said to be on account of the excessive moisture of the soil.
 My rowing eye eagerly sought the characteristic mills. which were in all most every community with four sails lazily revolving in the breeze As we came in sight of the low, red-ttled houses and the lofty spire of Antwerp Cathedral the finest Gothic church in The Netherlands. there fell over the sun. which all day had been most gen erous with its brightness. a faint touch of English fog. giving a soft. Iow-toned picturesque touch to the scene Such was our approach to Ant werp and felt that HNgos word painting did not adequately paint the charm of this old world town. Natur- ally it was the high peaked roofs and dormer windows, the generally foreign apearance of the architecture, that at once held our attention.
 The wharves were alive with strange life-dock porters in old blouses. sell lers of queer liquids, shippers and crews of Dutch canal boats. sailors of every gradation of color. who spoke such divers languages that we in stinctlvely wondered what our English would be worth in such crowd. and were soon to be enlightened. Not T soul could understand us. and but for our small vocabulary of French, We would have fared Ill. Though In the hotels and shops. in fact among the educated were always to be found