The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-07-31
FORTRESS AND CHURCH

banner OF ST. George END 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
Oman. 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. d.
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.
nificent, pitiless, to sit in judgment
upon Dinant. A few rich men ran.
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
Mouse. There was pillage from house
to house; merchants from Brussels
had come with carts to carry away
brassworks and household goode
bought cheap Of the plunderers. 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 1t had been
a ruin for a hundred years." For six
years it lay in its ashes, and then.
little by little, the life came back to
it, though never again came back the
pride and the wealth. Its rock was
crowned by a citadel. and the citadel
brought 1t storm and trouble In the
French wars.
But the town lived meekly in the
sight Of Bouvignes: it 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,
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
Dinant once again Is ruin from end
to end. Once again the chronicler may
write ICY 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.
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
0o CuhAlAS CA6iuOOAo WILL IAAOW yOu
over any river Of Europe Not thus
was the old bridge built that carried
a 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 not
compare with houses on the Graslei at
Client, with the houses that line the
quays of Bruges. Yet the loss OF
them is lamentable, irreparable We
cannot rebuild antiquity. even though
it 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 1t so many time when he
took his sketch book to the western
bank and set to work upon 1t with q
soft-leaded pencil.
A friendly little town 1t was, one
OF the decayed nobility among the
cities. yet affable and welcoming the
stranger.