Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1915-01-01
" HE traveller slipping up the
reaches Of the Scheldt river
toward Antwerp in the misty
small hours of the morning has

small hours of the morning has
ever been struck with a sense
q. curious, of almost uncanny con-
trasts. The city is heavily fortified,
grim and gray in spite of its quaint
ness. The Scheldt flows through a
gentle country of green meadowlands
and sleepy villages.
Antwerp is perhaps the most i'm
portant port on the continent of Eu-
rope in point of commerce. place
VERY much alive and very real. The
Scheldt is toy river meandering
through Noah's ark landscape
The country is mostly Dutch-the
Dutch of the imagination aid of chill
drens picture books. Flat meadows
b rder the river, broken with cluster
ing villages, pert red rooted farm
houses. tiny church spires. windmills
everywhere and rows and rows of
regular green trees ma lie after the
same pattern and looking for all the
world like rows of paper dolls. cut all
of a piece that have delighted chill
dre" for generations. Occasionally
aprenrs live thing-a COW, dog
or horse modelled from the beasts in
aHtonme and now and then a
little wooden man or the little wooden
ladies of his family. But over all is
the quiet Of child's toy village after
tNe child IS tucked in bed. and the
whole country looks as II it were
stood IN edge with it's feet in the wa
tor each morning and scrubbed behind
fhn ears
battle-ground Of the Nations"
And yet Belgium and Holland. for
all their quaint charm and picture
book quality. have been for centuries
the battle-ground of the nations. Time
after time the great countries of Eu.
rome have fought one another tooth
and nail, with these two little king.
doms as pawns. their pleasant fields
the scene Of many a bloody battle
Even now, though Holland has so far
escaped, Belgium Is blood drenched
her men moved down, her towns laid
waste, her peace and prosperity de-
stroyed; and all because her powerful
ueighbors have seen fit to go to war
Leave the wharf section, and Won
20 back q century or two for the old
town of Antwerp is the Quaintest o,
places The streets are narrow ant
winding with houses leaning drunk
emily against one another and noddins
at the shops across the way. Half thu
furniture of 10Th shops and house,
lives ON the sidewalks and the peopl,
live In the streets. especially the chill
dren and the dogs. They play ant
souabble cheerfully In mid-street
while wheel traffic makes its way a,
best II cana motley traffic It ia
too carts drawn by dogs and file,
with glittering brass milk cans, smar
and cheap taxicabs. open fiacres will
small, wiry beasts of some equin,
breed, though hardly recognizable a
of the same species as the magnifl
cent percherons, which do all tn,
hauling and heavy work.
These great horses swarm. splendi,
fellows with enormous shoulders
feathered fetlocks and the kindest o
faces. They are driven, II one cal
call It that, by a rope passed CASUAL
round the nose, hitched to long Low
skeleton of a wagon and they towe
above both wagon and driver Xix
mammoths. Navigation OF the street
on foot is thus rendered extremel
difficult, for though the gentlest @
beasts, they could crush n travele
under foot viii 'ne him.