Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1915-07-08
FORTRESS AND CHURCH

he was to see from the cliff at Bou-
vignes the knightly vengeance that his
son would take upon these vile brass
workers who had hanged the stuffed
image OF q count, who had DETAINED
a duchess Of Burgundy by calling her
a bishops sweetheart.
Then came the count himself under
a banner of st. George and the dragon,
with knights Of the Fleece, with the
constable of France. with many lords
OF Brabant and Hainaut. with horse
and foot and heavy artillery. The
Dinant men. at bay behind their wall.
ragged at the sight OF him; 1t had come
to war at last, and they were Wal
looms with arms in their hands. Di-
nant was sieged on all sides; the mas
ter Of the artillery brought his bomb
ards up against the gates'at full moon.
scattering such shot from his small
pieces that not a head might peep
over the wall. The captain Of the
brassworkers' guild would have fought
to the end, and his valiant smiths with
him. But the magistrates were Civ
ing up the key. while the captain was
carrying the city banner to the broken
wall, and the Bastard OF Burgundy
came In and the court after him, mag
n%ifcent, pitiless. to sit In judgment
upon Dinant. A few rich men ram
somed themselves dearly. But there
was much hanging and heading. At
Bouvignes they will show you the
cliff from which Dinant citizens. tied
neck and heels, were dropped into the
Meuse. There was pillage from house
to house; merchants from Brussels
had come with carts to carry away
brassworks and household goods
bought cheap of the p%lunderers. Last
ran the fire from end to end Of the
town. Dinant was burned In such
fashion, says Olivier de la Marche,
that 1t seemed as though it had been
a ruin for a hundred years" Fer six
years IL lay In its ashes. and then.
little by little. the life came back to
1t. though never again came back the
pride and the wealth. Its rock was
crowned by q citadel, and the citadel
brought 1t storm and trouble In the
French wars.
But the town lived meekly In the
sight of Bouvignes: 1t never pros
pered. In July of 1914 1t was selling
gingerbread to peasants, and post
card pictures Of its pretty old houses
to the tourists from the Namur boat,
showing strangers the way up the cliff
by the 400 steps In the rock and serv-
ing dinners to holiday folk. In August,
a fatal month for Dinant, the Ger
mans came upon 1t with mightier
bombards than those toys with which
Messire Pierre de Hacquembac had
made ready to blow In the gates.
Dfnant once again is a ruin from end
to end. Once again the chronicler may
write "Cy fust Dinant."
Even as Rachel mourned for her
children and would not be comfort
ed. because they were not, so may this
forlorn Belgium mourn for her per-
ished cities. Noble Louvain, very old
and wise. lies slain outright; Malines,
that was wonderful for beauty among
all towns, has her death wound: the
black sockets that were the houses OF
Termonde cape horribly to the sky.
Yet Belgium will remember the little
Dfnant in her prayer for vengeance.
There was little here for the over
curious antiquary. Those same archi.
tects who would call the church OF
Dinant notable among all Belgian
churches had played here Industrious
ly those perverse tricks that they
name restoration.
The new bridge was such a bridge
as cunning engineers will throw you
over any river OF Europe. Not thus
was the old bridge built that carried
. castle upon its arches. For the rest
you had the lines OF high.gabled
houses whose windows looked on the
water. These. again. you will rot
compare with houses on the Graslei at
Client. with the houses that line the
auays OF Bruges. Yet the loss of
them Is lamentable. irreparable. We
cannot rebuild antiquity. even though
1t be but the last antiquity, the latest |
hands turn Of work done before the
world fell into obedience of the ma
chine and learned to rule its straight
lines exactly, OF Dinant you may at
least say that was what the old.fash- |
Toned landscape-man would frankly
call :" picturesque" he must have
called it so many a time when he
took his sketch book to the western
bank and set to work upon it with q |
s~oft-leaded pencil.
A friendly little town it was, enc |
OF the dscayeG nobility asncng the
cities. yet aSaale and welcoming the
stranger.