The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-10-14
ANTWERP STANDS
STRONG AGAINST
GERMAN SIEGE
Famous Old Belgian Seaport As
Seen by Miss Louise Mack,
an English Writer.
TRAVELLING WITH REFUGEES
Fleeing In Terror, They Honor Their
Wounded SoIdiers-Banner-clad
City lie Prepared to Repel
the Teuton Foe.
international News Service.)


Antwerp, Belgium. - An English
woman, Miss Louise Mack, a we'll
known writer Of fiction, has written
a vivid description Of this ancient sea-
port in wartime. which the Germans
are attacking. The town has become
the haven Of thousands Of refugees,
Belgians, British and Americans. The
capital Of Belgium was transferred
here from Brussels, and German Yep
pelins brought the city into promi-
nence by bombarding it from the skies
at night. Miss Mack writes:
"slowly, painfully, through the blaz-
ing summer day, our long, brown train
goes creeping towards Anvers. An
vers! The name has grown into an
emblem Of hope in these sad days,
when the Belgians are fleeing for their
lives from their little homes among
the fiat, green pastures, fleeing
towards their own fortified city that
we English know as Antwerp, or else
directing their desperate, maddened
flights to the ineffable peace and Sc
curity Of the far-off and mysterious
Angleterre.' -: r.N}
"see them at every station crowding
in! In they crowd, herding like dumb,
driven cattle, and always the poor,
white-faced women with their wide,
innocent eyes have babies in their
arms and children tugging at their
skirts. Wherever we stop we find the
platforms lined ten deep, and by the
wildness with which they fight their
way into the already crowded carriage
one knows the pent-up terror in these
poor, simple hearts. They must get
in, they must. Whatever happens
they must get inside that train. And
soon every compartment is packed
and on we gov Through the sitting,
binding August day inwards toward
Anvers.
Room for Soldier Heroes.
"Ah, but when a soldier comes
along how eager everyone Is to find
place for him. Not one of us but
would gladly give our seat OF our
standing room up to a 'eoldat,' and
when our wounded soldiers from Ma
lines appear at. the doors we perform
miracles, in that long, brown train.
We squeeze ourselves to nothing.
"A soldier is talking. . How
we listen! Never did divine or states
man get such a hearing as that blue.
WORKOUT, wounded man, white with
dust, clogged with mud, his yellow
beard weeks old on his young face,
with his poor feet in their broken,
ravaged boots, and his red and blue
cap blackened with smoke and hard
ened with earth where he has slept
among the beets and potatoes.
":At Malines.' he is telling US in a
faint voice, at intervals I often saw
the king. He was there. He was
fighting. I saw him several times. I
was quite near him. He had a bravery
magnificent, our king. / saw a can
non, exploding just a bare yard from
| WlSIS LS Wd6. HOfCl III OfCl d6oiA
I saw his face, always calm, resolute.
hope all is we'll with him. he ends
forlornly, but in battle n knows
nothing
":All is WE'LL cry a dozen eager
voices. The king. is back at Antwerp
low. He is safe in his palace
In the Client Cathedral.
Hour after hour goes by. Two
hours wait at Client, and we rush in
a 'voiture' round the beautiful old
city, finding everything quite calm
here, and not a sign Of the Germans
anywhere. We enter the cathedral.
1t is Saturday morning, but crowds Of
people are there telling their rosaries.
Then a priest begins a sermon, and l
hear words that I am destined to hear
again later on at Antwerp-words that
have already begun to form the noble
keynote to the Belgian character. Re-
member this, my children, says the
little priest, seul fe silence est grand;
la reste est faiblesse. (Only silence
is great; the rest Is weakness.)
"Antwerp at last, and the first we
see of it is a. bewildering mass Of
taxicabs arrayed in the middle Of wide,
green fields at the city's outskirts, for
all taxis and motor cars have been
Communicated by the government at
Antwerp. Near the taxis Is a field Of
flying machines, biplanes, monoplanes,
airships, a magnificent array of air
craft, with the sunlight glittering over
hem like silver. The Zeppelin caught
them unawares the other night. They
will never be caught like that again.
in the field there goes on a c~easeless
activity-they are always ready now
and always getting still more ready.
Not Easy to Eti!er Antwerp.
Antwerp station IL the second larg-
est in the world and in these days it
has need to be big. The crowds that
pour out Of the trains here are ap-
palling. All the world seems to be
coming to Antwerp. Soldiers are ev-
erywhere, armed to the hilt, and stern
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