Middletown transcript., 1918-08-31

Airplane Vie,
IXMUDE, seated high among
the pastures, was like peas
ant in holiday garb Of pale
green with the rivers User
and Handzaeme tied to her girdle.
She was like a girl standing mo-
iOnless looking upon the smooth
countryside, with the sea in the dis
tance-the sea toward which ever blew
crisp breeze that made bend the
willows Of her winding paths, writes
Douglas Ainslie in London Graphic.
To Dixmude, indeed, there is also
applicable another figure-the mar
!yr-and her history from the middle
ages has had it's full share Of blood
and iron ever since it was but a SIM
pie fortress built upon an eminence
above the place where various rivu-
lets unite to form the User. In the
thirteenth century Guy de Dampierre
surrounded 1t with powerful RAM
parts, and through all the centuries
that have followed. from the period Of
the civil wars that rendered desOlate
the low countries in the fourteenth CEN
fury to the days when Rantzau and
Turenne entered 1t as conquerors. the
city has been one of the delights Of
the low countries. Dixmude did not
attempt resistance to the troops of
the French Revolution. and it is nota-
BILE that whenever she has been al
lowed some respite she has quickly
resumed her peaceful commercial life.
People Slow to Take Alarm.
Her population had the Flem-
lsh phlegm, and even when the mo-
bilization began in 1914, tt was looked
upon as a simple precautionary meas
ure. Was not the neutrality Of Bel
GUM guaranteed by treaties signed by
the plenipotentiaries of all the great
powers? Had not this neutrality been
respected since 1870? What cause,
therefore, was there for alarm? Such
was the confidence in scraps OF pa
per" that when certain individual
took it upon himself to announce Ger
many's violation Of the neutrality OF
the Grand Duchy Of Luxembourg, on
the second of August, and to prophesy
the worst, he was positively Kissed and
accused Of prOpagating demOralizing
news. Dixmude did not wish to be-
lieve in the treachery of the Ger
mans.
But events hasten on. News comes
of the destruction Of Wise, of the
resistance Of Liege, and that England,
resp .tful Of international treaties, has
declared herself for the allies. White
troupes Of trembling fugitives who had
escaped from the sack Of Louvain and
the massacre Of Tongres and Aerschot,
came pouring into Dixmude, toward
safety and the west, in state of pa
thetic desolatiOn.
Ruined Beauties Of the City.
But the ups and downs of the siege.
the false tranquility, and the horrible
awakening, must be sought elsewhere
In print. 1t will. perhaps, be inter-
esting to glance rather at few of the
outstanding beauties Of Dixmude
which have disappeared beneath the
blows of the Teutonic hammer. The
Church of st. Nicholas was, perhaps.
the most remarkable of the monu-
ments that had survived from ancient
times. It was built upon the site OF
the primitive chapel Of the tenth cen
fury, and it's interior belied the COM
parative modesty Of the exterior. 1t
contained the famous rood-screen, one
of the marvels Of Belgium. The
screen was remarkable, owing to the
enormous number of leaves, flowers,
fruits, and even Of minute insects
with which the ancient sculptor had
been at infinite pains to adorn it. |
This prodigious labor. lasting over
many years, was accomplished by a
single artist, whose name alone has |
come down to us from the sixteenth |
century: Jean Bartet.
The old Beguinage, inhabited by |
women who were not nuns, and form |
ing a lay order which they might |
leave at will, was a touching relic |
Of the past. It used to stand in the |
middle of the town, surrounded with |
high walls, creuching there as though |
from mOdesty. A low door afforded an
entrance to the grass plot around
which were grouped the little houses.
At the further end stood chapel